SUNBURY — Northumberland County Commissioners Frank Sawicki and Vinny Clausi released the findings of their transition team during Tuesday’s commissioners’ meeting.
They formed the transition team following the November election to examine county operations from top to bottom. According to team member John O’Boyle, a Scranton-based attorney, the purpose was to “expeditiously implement policies when (Mr. Clausi and Mr. Sawicki) assumed majority control.”
Over a six-week period, the team visited practically every county department and met with a host of county workers, he said.
While the team found a handful of offices running efficiently, Mr. O’Boyle suggested improvements could be made to several departments, including the prison, human resources office and Mountain View Manor.
One major concern is the low staffing at the prison, which increases the cost of overtime pay, he said.
Frank Brown, another member of the team and a military retiree, made a number of other recommendations pertaining to the county’s weatherization, public safety, veterans affairs and tourism offices, among others.
Among several of his suggestions, he said the county should improve security — which he described as “poor to nonexistent” — at the 911 building and end its association with the Central Susquehanna Valley Visitors Bureau due to the limited amount of funding the bureau provides to the county.
“The county can do better with the $36,000 it collects from the hotel tax,” he said.
Mr. Sawicki said many of the problems addressed in the transition team report are “legacy issues” carried over from previous administrations that were never addressed, such as the county’s use of pagers, a now outdated piece of technology.
“What we’re trying to do now is clean this up,” he said. “Nothing was really looked at as being incorrect ... We just need to tighten things up.”
Chief clerk Rose Marquardt, another member of the team, expressed similar sentiments: “This is not to blame. This did not happen in four years. This happened in 75 years.”
Commissioner Kurt Masser said, although he wasn’t presented with the findings of the report until 15 minutes before Tuesday’s meeting, he appreciated the work the transition team had put in.
“As a taxpayer, I want to thank you for doing this,” he said. “I’m really happy for you folks to do this work.”
The previous administration got a lot accomplished, he said. “Is there more to do? Absolutely ... A lot of the things I heard are a wish list, and I wish we were in a lot better financial situation to fulfill these wishes.”
Mr. Masser reserved full comment on the report since he hadn’t had a chance to read it in its entirety.
The board voted to accept the report for further examination, with Mr. Masser abstaining.
n E-mail comments to rscott@dailyitem.com.
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