Board fails to act on classification

Two commissioners feared a missing colleague would blame them for passing it.
By MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MERCER, Pa. -- For the second time in less than a month, the Mercer County Salary Board failed to act on a motion to change the job classification of employees in the Mercer County Elections and Registration office.
The Salary Board consists of the three county commissioners and county Controller Thomas Amundsen.
At an April 27 meeting, the motion was made by Commissioner Brian Beader and died for lack of a second after Commissioners Michele Brooks, Olivia Lazor and Amundsen failed to second it.
On Thursday, the motion was tabled until Lazor returns. She was in Pittsburgh attending a training session on an anti-poverty initiative soon to be launched by the Community Action Partnership of Mercer County. Lazor is the commissioners' representative to the partnership.
Beader and Amundsen said Lazor should be there to vote on the classification change, which would result in higher pay for the four election office workers.
Anticipating reaction
Beader and Amundsen were unwilling to vote without Lazor because they feared she would later distance herself from the matter and blame the others for passing it.
"I think there's politics being played," Beader said.
After the meeting, he said, "Three years ago Commissioner Lazor didn't show up to vote on a tax increase and then went around saying, 'I didn't vote for it.'"
Lazor, contacted Thursday, called it "bizarre" that "I could intimidate that group for fear of what I might say."
She would not comment on how she would have voted had she been at the meeting, stating she would wait until May 25 when it will come up again.
When the matter first came up for a vote April 27, Lazor said she opposed it because the classification change would open the door for similar changes in many courthouse offices and impact the county financially.
Beader said Thursday he knew of nothing that had changed since the April 27 meeting and questioned why it had been placed on Thursday's agenda when Lazor would not be there.
Expresses frustration
Karen Seelbaugh, chief griever for United Steelworkers Local 1355-04, which represents the four employees, told the salary board that they are "very frustrated" because "this has been going on for a very long time."
Mediation on the matter has gone on for more than a year.
On April 27, Beader's motion was to change the employees' classification from technical, clerical and support grade four to grade five. This would have raised the entry-level hourly wage for these positions from $10.88 to $11.13, as well as raise wages at all steps of the job.
Amundsen said he didn't second Beader's motion because he knew nothing about the grievance the election employees filed, which prompted the discussion on changing the classification. He said he was promised background information but did not receive it until he inquired about it Wednesday.
Before the April 27 meeting, commissioners had agreed to settle the grievance by increasing the grade for the positions retroactive to Oct. 1, 2005, but unexpectedly failed to take action when it came up for a vote.