Billionaire helps with salary of county worker

UNIONTOWN, Pa. (AP) -- Fayette County Commissioner Joe Hardy, the billionaire founder of the 84 Lumber chain, will use $24,000 of his own money to increase the salary of the county's new human resources director.
The county had hired Felice Associates Inc., of Greensburg, to manage the county's human resource duties for the next three years. The company was to hire a full-time human resources director.
During candidate interviews, James Moore, who was eventually hired for the post, asked for an annual salary of $65,000.
But the contract with the county allotted only about $45,000 a year for the position, so Hardy decided to more than make up the difference.
County resident Ralph Mazza, however, said such a payment could make Moore beholden to Hardy.
"It doesn't sound right to me," said Mazza, who has been critical of the Felice deal.
Over the last two years Hardy, elected to a commissioner's seat last year, has paid $250,000 to erect statues to the county's namesake Revolutionary War general, pledged $5 million to renovate downtown Uniontown and matched a $150,000 state grant to revitalize Brownsville.
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