Mercer officials to revise nepotism policy

MERCER, Pa. --The county's nepotism policy will be revised because the current one is too restrictive, Mercer County commissioners announced.
They said at their chief clerk's meeting Tuesday that the policy passed in 2003 is causing problems because it does not allow relatives to work in the same building.
This means, according to Commissioner Brian Beader, that a lot of job applicants are being turned away.
The commissioners' solicitor, Atty. Mark Longietti, said the current policy is flawed. He said, for example, the policy prevents spouses, or a brother and sister from working in the same building, and questioned, "Is there an evil we are attacking?" Sometimes a marriage requires that one spouse quit his or her county job, he added.
Beader theorized that if his wife were elected commissioner, it is not certain that she would be allowed to take office.
Certain abuses are already addressed by the Ethics Act, which, Longietti said, requires that if an immediate family member of a public official is hired, the fact must be made public and the official must abstain from voting on the hiring.