Westmoreland County fires deputy director of elections with Nov. 3 election looming
Westmoreland commissioners fired the deputy director of the county’s elections bureau — a move that continues upheaval in the department just a month before the Nov. 3 election.
County officials on Thursday would not comment on the reasons for the dismissal of Scott Sistek, who served for more than a month this summer as the election bureau’s interim director and before being named in August as its permanent second-in-command.
“There is no politics involved in this whatsoever,” said Commissioner Doug Chew. “It has nothing to do with any election issues.”
According to records viewed by the Tribune-Review, Sistek was suspended with pay on Sept. 17 and converted to unpaid status on Sept. 25. Officials said Sistek was removed from the job this week.
Sistek could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
Commissioners named Sistek interim director following the late July resignation of the department’s director. That was two months after he was transferred to the elections office. In August, he was appointed deputy director with a $39,400 annual salary upon the hiring of JoAnn Sebastiani as the new office head.
Sistek’s departure means the elections bureau will operate for now with one top administrator as officials continue to gear up for the highly watched presidential election.
Sebastiani declined to comment on Sistek’s ouster.
The office has already processed about 50,000 mail-in ballot applications, which are expected to be sent to voters this weekend. Officials predicted as many as 100,000 voters will cast ballots by mail this fall.
Sistek, a Democrat, is a longtime veteran of county government. He previously worked as a chief of staff to former Commissioner Tom Balya. His other assignments included serving as head of the weights and measures department as well as jobs in the public works and sheriff departments.
Sistek also served as council president in New Stanton and became mayor after incumbent Ron Echard died last month.
Rich Cholodofsky is a TribLive reporter covering Westmoreland County government, politics and courts. He can be reached at rcholodofsky@triblive.com.
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