Commissioners take responsibility for breaking Sunshine Law; controller does not
May 16—MERCER — The three Mercer County commissioners voted against ratifying the special pay to two senior controller employees and instead, the two Republican commissioners said they would pay the figure — almost $6,000 — personally.
"Going forward, there'll be no additional pay to any salaried employees for working on this project outside the normal work hours, and in order to return the money that was paid out without salary board approval, Commissioner Coleman and myself will personally be returning that money to the county from our own salaries," Commissioner William Finley Jr. said at the salary board meeting Thursday. "We agreed it was not fair to take money away from the employees' families, as they did complete the work."
The three commissioners double as the county salary board, which also includes the county controller as a member.
Finley and Commissioner Chair Ann Coleman both took responsibility for not bringing the issue of paying the employees for a special project to a public meeting of the salary board.
In a report issued Saturday by District Attorney Peter C. Acker, after investigating the situation brought to light by the Human Resources Department, he said that the two commissioners and Controller Stephen J. Sherman II broke the state's Sunshine Law by agreeing to the extra pay at an unofficial meeting that was held in private, instead of at a public salary board meeting.
The two senior employees in the controller's office were working outside normal business hours to implement a new financial software system from Oracle. They were paid almost $6,000 for their extra work.
Acker said in his report that Sherman discussed with Coleman and Finley the need for the two employees, both of whom are salaried and ineligible for overtime pay, to receive additional pay for extra work.
The third commissioner, Tim McGonigle, was unavailable when the three met and discussed the payments and did not find out about the unauthorized payments until later.
On Thursday, McGonigle read from the Pennsylvania Association of County Controllers website on the role and responsibilities of a county controller.
McGonigle said his two colleagues took responsibility for breaking the Sunshine Law, but that Sherman has not.
When asked if he would apologize to the Mercer County taxpayers for breaking the Sunshine Law and assure them that something like this would never happen again, Sherman did not.
"After reading the statements made by the district attorney, I believe it's been made perfectly clear that the original false accusations aimed at me and the controller's office have been discharged as false," Sherman said. "These accusations were not only false, misleading and defamatory, but were not representative of my character, ethics or the hard work I have been doing for Mercer County."
Coleman explained the Oracle project in further detail. She said it is going to take Mercer County from a paper system to one that will eventually be paperless. The implementation began in February 2024 and the contract suggests a 7-month time frame.
She said she was advised by consultants that the financial work being done by the controller's office is about 90% completed and the project's human resources portion is 50 to 60% done.
"This is good news for Mercer County," Coleman said. "What is not good news is the negative publicity that our county has recently received."
Coleman said she takes responsibility for her role in the unauthorized payments.
"Had I known then what I know now, this situation would have played out much differently," she said. "Over the past several weeks, people have reminded me that some of the best lessons must be learned the hard way."
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
Follow Melissa Klaric on twitter @HeraldKlaric or email her at mklaric@sharonherald.com
