Westmoreland commissioners said mistakes led to election bureau director firing

Westmoreland commissioners on Thursday said the recent firing of the county’s election bureau director was necessary in response to a series of errors that plagued the May primary.

Speaking publicly for the first time about the decision to oust JoAnn Sebastiani, commissioners said the county conducted “administrative inquires” that initially resulted in a suspension and ultimately the termination that was finalized late last month.

“The county is confident that its decision to implement new administrative positions and safeguards is fully warranted and will result in operation efficiency and accuracy improvement in the election bureau,” commissioners said in a statement.

Commissioners formally approved Sebastiani’s firing at Thursday’s public meeting, a move they said enabled them to make public comments about the situations that led to the personnel change.

“There were problems, mistakes in the office,” said Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher, who pointed to media reports that a district judge race was left off the ballot in four Mt. Pleasant precincts and that a vacant seat on the Southmoreland School Board was also excluded from primary ballots. “We decided to do a reorganization, to create a new system of checks and balances. Mistakes were made, and we are correcting them.”

Throughout the spring, commissioners were forced to respond as a series of issues that surrounded the election bureau. Those included concerns about the late issuance of mail-in ballots, delays to post-election results and confusion over an announcement of write-in winners in more than a dozen races.

“We gave the director multiple chances to correct the issues. There were multiple errors,” said Commissioner Sean Kertes.

In the days prior to the May 18 primary, commissioners temporarily reassigned the county’s public works director Greg McCloskey to serve as Sebastiani’s deputy. McCloskey was again placed in the election bureau last month after Sebastiani was suspended. He continues to serve as the department’s interim director in addition to his other duties.

Sebastiani, 63, had served five years as a deputy in the county’s tax office when she was hired to head the election bureau last August following the resignation its previous director.

Commissioners said Sebastiani declined to be reassigned to three other jobs within county government before she was fired.

Sebastiani on Thursday did not respond to a call seeking comment.

According to official action forms filed with the county’s human resources office, Sebastiani was suspended with pay on June 8. All three commissioners signed off on her firing on June 25, although she was formally removed from her job a week earlier.

At Thursday’s public meeting, commissioners unanimously approved Sebastiani’s firing as part of a group of personnel actions that included the hiring of dozens of employees, as well as a resignations and retirements. The firing of one other employee, a 911 emergency dispatch trainee, also was approved.

Commissioners defended the decision to keep silent about Sebastiani’s firing until Thursday.

“We were waiting for a response from her (about the job offers),” Kertes said.

Commissioners last month approved a reorganization of the election bureau that included creation of three new middle management positions. Two of those managers have since been hired and a third is pending, according to Alexis Bevan, the county’s human resources director.

A search for Sebastiani’s replacement is underway.

Bevan said the county has received 10 applicants so far. Interviews could begin as early as next week.