Search for new Westmoreland elections director stalls

The Westmoreland County commissioners have indefinitely halted a search for a new election bureau director.

The department has been without a top executive since the commissioners fired the former director last summer after she served 10 months on the job. Since June, it has been operated with two interim directors who also run other county departments.

“We’re just continuing the status quo for now,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said. “We have not sat down and looked at election directors.”

Public Works Director Greg McCloskey and Scott Ross, the county’s information systems director, have served as interim election directors since last summer.

McCloskey initially was tabbed last spring to assist the department in the lead up to the 2021 primary as the election bureau dealt with multiple issues that included ballot errors and printing delays. He, along with Ross, were put in charge of elections after commissioners fired director JoAnn Sebastiani.

She has since filed a federal lawsuit against the county in which she claimed she was fired for political reasons and was subjected to a hostile work environment. That lawsuit still is pending.

The commissioners last month gave McCloskey a $5,000 bonus for his work in the election bureau.

Last year’s reorganization of the election bureau led to the hiring of an office manager and a quality assurance supervisor, both of whom remain on the job.

Meanwhile, the search for a permanent director stalled. No job candidates have interviewed this year and none are scheduled, commissioners said.

“The important job is to get the elections done and to make sure the elections go off without a hitch,” Commissioner Doug Chew said. “What those players are called, what positions they are in, is really immaterial.”

Kertes said there is no rush to find a new director.

“Obviously, we want to fill it,” Kertes said. “But the office is working in way better fashion now than it has been in some time.”