State: Schuylkill County recorder of deeds violated ethics act with hiring of brother

POTTSVILLE — Schuylkill County Recorder of Deeds Ann Dudish violated the state Ethics Act when she appointed her brother as first deputy recorder of deeds and voted to approve his salary, the State Ethics Commission found.

Read the ethics report

State Ethics Commission report on Schuylkill County Recorder of Deeds Ann Dudish.

The final adjudication, contained in a 10-page report posted on the commission website Tuesday, recommends no action against Dudish because she did not receive financial compensation as a result of the Nov. 16, 2022, vote by the salary board, which is comprised of the commissioners, the county controller and the row officer — Dudish in this case — who is requesting the personnel action.

Heads of departments have the authority to hire and fire personnel while the salary board’s role is only to approve the salary.

The commission said her actions represented a conflict of interest.

Dudish said by phone Wednesday that she believes she did “the best thing I could for my office at that point in time” in deciding to have her brother fill the role.

“If I would have been advised (by legal counsel) I wouldn’t have voted, absolutely not,” she said of the vote at the salary board meeting.

Dudish later issued a statement, which reiterated some content from the report.

“In acting in favor of my brother as the replacement of my former first deputy, I was, as I always have, acting in the best interests of the office of recorder of deeds,” the statement said.

The investigative division of the State Ethics Commission conducted the probe regarding possible violations of the Public Official and Employee Ethics Act. The report does not say who initiated the complaint.

However, the attorney general’s office received information from the investigation, according to the ethics report.

Dudish received a copy of allegations at the start of the investigation and its findings at the conclusion. She has been the recorder of deeds since September 2014 after being appointed by former Gov. Tom Corbett to fill the role of her late husband, Matthew Dudish.

Detailed in the report is that Gerard Klema is her brother. An employee of the Schuylkill County Human Resources office said Wednesday that Klema is listed as first deputy recorder of deeds.

Klema started with the county in 2008 as a clerk typist I in the recorder of deeds office, later becoming a clerk typist II, according to the report. The first deputy reco

rder of deeds position became available Nov. 18, 2022, with the retirement of another employee. Dudish offered the position to the most senior employee in the office but he declined. She then selected her brother, who the report says was “highly qualified” for the position.

The document indicates it is “general knowledge” that Dudish and Klema are brother and sister.

Dudish submitted a personnel action report regarding Klema to the human resources department and the salary board Nov. 9, 2022. It said the new role would increase his salary to $39,410 from $35,734.97.

In the Nov. 21, 2022, salary board vote, Dudish did not say that Klema was her brother and neither the solicitor of the recorder of deeds office nor the assistant county solicitor, neither of whom is named, advised Dudish to abstain, the report says.

Questioned with her lawyer present for an interview Dec. 21, 2023, by investigators, Dudish said, among other things, that she wanted to hire someone with knowledge of the office, thus deciding not to see outside applicants. She told investigators she was “unaware” that voting on compensation for her brother constituted a violation of the Ethics Act.

In approving the requested salary increase 5-0 for Klema, Commissioner Gary J. Hess said Wednesday that he didn’t know Klema was her brother, but did know they were related.

Commissioner Barron L. “Boots” Hetherington said Wednesday that he also didn’t know Klema was Dudish’s brother. If he did, he said he would have suggested she consider abstaining from the vote on the salary board.

Then-Commissioner George F. Halcovage Jr. also voted to approve the salary.

“There’s an ethics breach for Schuylkill County,” Jeffrey Dunkel, a Palo Alto resident and frequent attendee at weekly commissioners meetings, said during the public comment portion of Wednesday’s meeting.