By Marcia Moore
SUNBURY — Northumberland County Court Administrator Brandy Yasenchak, who has taken on additional duties in the past two years that added significantly to her salary, cites harassment by court employees and disciplinary issues with a former employee for causing her health problems and threatening the life of her unborn child last summer.
After serving as President Judge Robert B. Sacavage’s law clerk, Yasenchak was appointed court administrator on Nov. 1, 2002, at an annual salary of $44,000.
The state-funded position now pays $58,406 a year to monitor court personnel, prepare and manage the budget, schedule court cases and administer support to court members.
In the past two years, Yasenchak has added to her workload by taking on other jobs given to her by Sacavage.
She was appointed treatment court coordinator for an additional $19,495 a year in April 2008 and also serves as a substitute mental health/ mental retardation hearing officer for up to $6,500 more a year. So far this year, she’s been paid $419 for serving as a substitute officer.
When the treatment court coordinator position was brought to a vote nearly two years ago, minority Commissioner Kurt Masser voted against it.
Although all three commissioners agree Sacavage may run the court any way he chooses, Masser said he was concerned about reports that Yasenchak was going to get the job.
“I don’t like to step on the court’s toes, but I just couldn’t understand the logistics of how Brandy could handle” an extra job, he said.
“There’s only an x amount of hours in a day.”
Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts spokesman Art Heinz said Yasenchak brings additional job skills to the position of court administrator as an attorney, and as president judge, Sacavage has the right to hire anyone he sees fit.
Yasenchak’s appointment as treatment court coordinator caused bitterness among many in the courthouse, mostly due to the acrimonious relationship she cited in a letter sent last week to Sacavage, Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts officials and county solicitor Kymberley Best.
In the letter, Yasenchak singled out Judge William H. Wiest for saying he would fire her if he were president judge and harassment from long-serving judges secretaries Beth Onesi and Amy Zeiders, and issues stemming from the firing of deputy court administrator Jona Diehl, with helping to create a “hostile work environment.”
Onesi and Zeiders disputed the charges. “We’re not in grade school,” Zeiders said.
Wiest said he hasn’t observed any harassment from his chambers.
“I certainly would not find that acceptable,” he said.
Yasenchak wrote that in the past 10 years she’s sent Sacavage “countless memos and e-mails regarding the ongoing harassment” by Onesi and Zeiders.
The harassment and disciplinary issues stemming from Diehl’s firing in July, Yasenchak said, “resulted in my blood pressure skyrocketing and causing me to deliver my baby prematurely.
I was put on bed rest, and when I returned to work for one week, the nonsense did not stop; in fact, my pressure began to steadily increase as a direct result of being at work and having to deal with these three individuals. I was immediately hospitalized.”
Yasenchak and Sacavage did not return calls for comment Monday.
