Promotion, new hire approved

The disagreement was over the wages to be paid to the two employees.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa.-- One promotion and one new hire were approved Thursday by split votes of the Mercer County Salary Board.
The salary board is made up of the county commissioners, Controller Thomas Amundsen and other public officials, depending on the position being acted on.
Eileen McKnight, who has been second deputy in county Recorder Rhonda McLelland's office. was promoted to first deputy at $29,412 annually. She replaces Barb West, who retired. Dorothy O'Brien Pepe of Hermitage was hired as second deputy at $23,780.
Amundsen cast the only vote against McKnight's being hired at that salary level, stating that she should have been hired at entry level. Voting for the wage were county Commissioners Michele Brooks, Brian Beader and Olivia Lazor, as well as McClelland.
Beader objected to the placement of Pepe, a new employee, at professional and administrative Level 3, Step 3 on the pay scale. He and Amundsen voted against the wage. But the motion passed with Brooks, Lazor and McClelland voting in favor.
After the meeting, Bill Boyle, director of administrative services, said McKnight's rate was set higher than entry because she has previously served as second deputy in the recorder's office and has worked there 61/2 years. He said Pepe was also placed higher than new hires usually are on the pay scale because she owned a title search business and worked in that field for about 30 years.
Other action
In other business, county commissioners:
Reappointed Darin Flower of Sharon to a five-year term on the Mercer County Solid Waste Authority. The term expires Aug. 2, 2011.
Agreed to pay Braham Professional Auction Services of Grove City 10 percent of gross revenues plus expenses for auctioning surplus county equipment, mostly from the former county jail, at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the former jail on South Diamond Street, Mercer.
Hired Kenneth Carter of Grove City as temporary caseworker II and Maggie Saxe of Pittsburgh as caseworker II at $27,725 annually and Yvonne Barnett of Hermitage as part-time clerical worker for the county jail at $10.01 hourly.
Agreed to let a gas consortium the county participates in lock in gas prices when they drop low enough without each member of the consortium voting. Amundsen said locking in prices will save money but that in the past it has been difficult to get a majority of consortium members together in time to approve the action. The county pays $50 monthly for an Ellwood City utility management company to get the consortium the best prices.