Somerset County Commissioners accept water system chief resignation; hire 911 coordinator
Somerset County Commissioners have accepted the resignation of Terry Stutzman, chief operator of the Somerset County General Authority Water System.
In his resignation, Stutzman said it was time to move on for his personal life, said Commissioner Irvin Kimmel Jr.
There are four positions within the authority, but right now only two operators are working as apprentices under an Apex agreement for certified water operators. The two have to go through the Apex requirement of time and experience on the job before they can be classified as chief operators, commissioners explained.
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Apex Companies LLC of Somerset provides consulting and engineering services, water resources and environmental services, with capabilities in water, environmental, health and safety, construction management, transportation, compliance and assurance and infrastructure.
The two operators have passed their licenses, but must work for three years before they can be considered chief operators, Kimmel said. The two can handle day-to-day operations. The system is automated, so the operators can monitor it through their phones or laptops, Kimmel said.
"We're going to lean on Apex a little more," said commissioners Chairman Brian Fochtman after Tuesday's meeting. That will be temporary until the apprentices are certified chief operators. He said one of the apprentices is a former U.S. Marine trained in water treatment and hopes to count that experience toward his three-year apprenticeship.
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The chief operator position will be advertised.
"Every other authority in the state is in the same boat," Kimmel said. "It's a field nobody wants to get into."
New 911 coordinator
Commissioners also hired Shawn Ware as the 911 coordinator, at an annual salary of $50,000, effective May 28.
Kimmel said after the meeting that Ware has not worked at the Somerset County 911 Center, but has more than 30 years of experience as the operations manager of Somerset Ambulance Service.
"Shawn is a very respected individual in the community and among the first responders," he said. "He will be a great asset over there with his skills and experience with the 911 officers."
At the Sept. 12 Somerset County Salary Board meeting, two separate positions were established – a 911 coordinator and a 911 operations manager – to conduct daily operations of the center. Craig Hollis-Nicholson is the 911 Center operations manager and Ware will be the 911 coordinator. They are equal in status, but different in what they will be doing at the center.
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"Craig does a good job, too," Fochtman said. "I feel very good about the situation right now."
Jail correction officers
The salary board converted four part-time correctional officer positions at the Somerset County Jail into two full-time corrections officer positions. They said the decision was made on a recommendation from Warden Brian Pelesky.
"The warden said the guys working part-time wanted full-time," Kimmel said. "We had to make the positions before they can make any employee recommendations."
Fochtman and Kimmel said the jail staffing is still status quo and "not ideal, but the staff there is managing and doing a great job," they said. The warden and deputy warden are actively trying to recruit new employees, but, as they have said in the past, it's hard for the county jail to compete with the state and federal prisons in the area paying much higher salaries, Kimmel said.
This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Water system chief operator resigns; county 911 coordinator hired
