Jun 21, 2024 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Washington County has hired a new employee to handle oversight of various upcoming special projects for the county government, although questions are being raised about the position and the process to select the candidate.

County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman said Thursday the county hired Joe Bendik to serve in a coordinating role to oversee major projects, such as upgrading the 911 emergency radio system, constructing a new public safety building and acquiring the city’s parking garage in Washington.

“He is someone we brought in to oversee the new (public safety) building, the parking garage, depending on what’s happening with that, the 911 (radio) project that was an absolute debacle,” said Sherman, adding that the position will also help go after a variety of public safety grants. “We put someone in specifically for the 911 project. We needed someone to spearhead this, not only on the bidding but to fix the mistakes made in the last few years.”

But that role appears to be vastly different from what was publicized when the county’s salary board approved a position at its May 16 meeting to hire an assistant operations manager for the 911 center at an annual salary of $60,577. County spokesman Patrick Geho said Bendik was hired May 28 to fill that role, and his “responsibilities include working with the P25 (radio) system, coordinating the antenna system and overseeing the daily operations at the center.”

However, the hire was so secretive that Commissioner Larry Maggi was unaware Bendik was even working in the county government until he met him unexpectedly at an impromptu meeting with department heads earlier this month. Maggi went over to see who the new hire was when county Chief of Staff Daryl Price introduced Bendik and indicated he would be handling special projects.

“He showed up at a meeting. I didn’t know who he was,” Maggi said of the gathering with the commissioners and other department leaders. “He was at the meeting sitting there. I knew most people in the room so I asked who he was (and) he introduced himself, and Daryl said he’s the guy we hired to do all the special projects in the county.”

While Maggi voted in favor of the assistant operations manager position during the May 16 salary board meeting, he questioned why the job description and title were so different from what Bendik apparently will be doing. Maggi also did not know anything about Bendik’s professional background or previous jobs to indicate whether he is qualified for the position.

“Others may have known about it (and) talked to him and were aware of his background, but I was not,” Maggi said.

During the meeting with the department heads, Maggi was told that the position – which was referred to as coordinator of special projects – was designed to replace the deputy public safety director position vacated in February when Justin Shawley resigned. But the scope of the new position as explained by Sherman is notably different from Shawley’s public safety role and the job description. While maintaining and managing the 911 radio system is included in the job’s “essential functions,” there is nothing listing grant writing or oversight of building construction, such as a new public safety building.

According to the “purpose of position” listed in the job description provided by Geho, the assistant operations manager is “To maintain electronic, radio and computer communications equipment of a 9-1-1 telecommunications operation. Oversees vendors and assures the quality of service performed. Ensures that the center is properly staffed.”

No information about Bendik or his position can be located on the county’s website, prompting the Observer-Reporter to file a Right-To-Know request asking for information regarding Bendik’s role and how it was created. The county had not responded to the open records request by press time Thursday and a phone call to Bendik’s office was not immediately returned.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said the way the process was handled is concerning and could amount to a violation of the state’s Sunshine Law that requires a public vote to hire a new employee.

“The hiring process does not appear to be consistent with the Sunshine Act,” Melewsky said. “It requires all decisions, like hiring decisions, to be made at a public meeting and only after there is public comment, neither of which it appears they did here.”

She added that Maggi being left out of the hiring process could also be problematic since county commissioners must be given at least 24 hours notice of the date, time and purpose for an executive session to discuss something like a personnel matter.

“If you’ve got one (commissioner) in the dark, that’s a red flag,” she said. “It sounds like there is a pretty serious issue there that needs to be looked at.”

Any member of the public can file a legal challenge with the Washington County Court of Common Pleas alleging a violation of the Sunshine Act, although it must be made within 30 days of the discovery of the possible infraction if it occurred during a closed meeting.