Mar 7, 2025 By Mike Jones 5 min read

Washington County’s salary board pulled a last-minute agenda item to appoint a new deputy controller Thursday after acting Controller Heather Sheatler accused the commissioners on the board of meddling with her office staff as a political ploy ahead of the May primary election.

The salary board – which consists of the three county commissioners and Sheatler – were poised to vote to create the new position with a $78,676 salary when it was removed from the agenda moments before the meeting, although it was unclear who would have been hired for the position.

The controller’s row office’s solicitor sent a “cease and desist” letter to county officials, accusing them of trying to assert authority over Sheatler’s independent office. The letter, which was sent Wednesday and signed by solicitor Michael Clark, was delivered to the three commissioners, along with Chief of Staff Daryl Price and Human Resources Director Andrea Johnston.

“You must cease and desist any and all attempts to regulate and supervise Ms. Sheatler as an employee of the County including the planned creation of a deputy controller,” the letter read. “Ms. Sheatler is the appointed controller and remains in this position despite the wishes otherwise of the County Commissioners.”

It stated Sheatler’s office is “wholly independent” from that of the county government, and she has the “exclusive power to appoint, remove, and supervise her employees and not subject to restrictions of her activities” by the county. The letter accuses county officials of requiring her to undergo a “Performance Improvement Plan” review filed Feb. 28, and declared it must be purged from the record. The letter threatened a lawsuit if the county officials continue to interfere with her office.

Sheatler, who has worked in the controller’s office for 22 years and most recently was the deputy, was appointed by the commissioners to serve as acting controller and sworn-in Oct. 1 to replace April Sloane, who resigned from the top position after pleading guilty to felony animal cruelty the previous month. Sheatler is running for election this year hoping to secure a four-year term in the position, and is expected to face Pat Phillips in the Republican primary on May 20.

“It is clear the treatment of Ms. Sheatler is an election year tactic aimed at delegitimizing her and her office while the County Commissioners support another candidate,” the letter states. “While the County Commissioners, in their free time, may support whatever candidate they so choose in an election, they cannot use the weight of their office and the weight of the county to prevent Ms. Sheatler from executing the duties of her office.”

It’s unlikely the deputy controller position would have passed the salary board since Sheatler and Commissioner Larry Maggi indicated their unwillingness to approve the motion, which would have left a 2-2 stalemate had Commissioners Nick Sherman and Electra Janis voted in favor of it. However, the cease and desist appeared to influence the decision to remove the item from the agenda.

After the meeting, Sheatler said she thought the decision by county officials to create a deputy controller petition was an attempt to influence the upcoming primary election.

“It’s election time, so it’s 100% political. They’ve even gone as far as asking me to withdraw from the race, but I’m not backing down,” Sheatler said, although she did not identify who had talked to her about withdrawing. “They were OK with me being the controller since last October, but now they don’t want me in this position.”

She said there are currently 11 people working in her office – including a person already in the deputy controller position – so she’s unsure why it was placed on the agenda at all.

“It means I won today’s battle, but there will be one tomorrow,” Sheatler said of the decision to pull the motion from the agenda. “It’s a political game, is all it is. And I’m not going to play it.”

Sherman said they wanted to create the position because of issues over late or unpaid bills since January. He did not say who would have held the role had it been approved.

“There is concern amongst the county about the lack of bills that are being paid,” Sherman said. “The biggest part of the controller’s office responsibility is the vendors are being paid in a timely fashion.”

Sheatler denied there were significant issues with bill payments, even though there were some delays caused by a new accounting system put in place Jan. 1. She said all bills have been paid within 30 days of receipt by her office.

But Sherman disagreed with Sheatler’s assertion that she can run the office independently because she has not been elected controller and has not been appointed to the position by Gov. Josh Shapiro and confirmed by the state Senate.

“She’s acting, which does not give her permission to make appointments. Instead of having a working conversation about the functions of her office, we were met with a letter from her attorney,” Sherman said.

Maggi viewed the situation differently, expressing the belief that it is Sheatler’s office to run until a new controller is elected or the governor formally appoints someone to that position.

“Until something happens, she’s the controller,” Maggi said.