Oct 23, 2025 By Mike Jones 3 min read

Greene County officials have hired a temporary employee with nearly a decade of experience helping run elections in Westmoreland County to bolster their own local office ahead of the Nov. 4 general election.

The commissioners during their voting meeting last Thursday approved a contract with Jessica Goughnour to work in a temporary role in the elections office at a rate of $38 per hour with no benefits, retroactively to Oct. 7.

Greene County Commission Chairman Jared Edgreen, who also serves as chairman of the elections board, said Goughnour has a wealth of experience after working in the Westmoreland County Elections Office, so they thought it would be beneficial for her to help for a few weeks in their office. He said Goughnour’s position is a clerical one and will give the office three employees, which also includes Elections Director Kierra Cannon and manager Josephine Weingard.

“They’re new so there is a lot to learn,” Edgreen said. “Being able to bring (Goughnour) in and guide them through the process.”

Goughnour worked for Westmoreland County for 18 years, half of which she spent as an employee in the election bureau, according to the networking website bold.pro.

Edgreen said Cannon is still working in the office, which had three employees up until last month when another worker left for a new position elsewhere.

“We needed extra help,” he said. “Making sure that office is more than stable is our concern, as is the constituents’ concern as well. (Goughnour) comes with a lot of experience.”

Edgreen acknowledged that Cannon has taken a second job working at Bowlby Public Library in Waynesburg, mostly during off-hours with various programs. He said she remains elections director, although he seemed unsure if she would want to stay in that role after the election.

“I’d like to keep her. We’ll see. It’s her decision. But if it was my decision, we’d keep her,” Edgreen said.

Reached by telephone at the Greene County Elections Office on Wednesday morning, Cannon said “things are going great” in the lead-up to the Nov. 4 election, but she was non-committal about remaining in the office’s top position afterward.

“I’m staying through the election and helping. I’m not sure yet,” Cannon said about whether she will stay past the election.

Cannon is the sixth different elections director in Greene County since its longtime leader Tina Kiger left in August 2020. Cannon began her new role in April after replacing Joe Lemley, who spent about a year as director before leaving for another job earlier this year.

Edgreen said Goughnour will work more in a “mentor role” as she serves in the clerical position over the next few weeks.

“We really needed someone solid in there. Having her come in for a month, it’s not extending the budget in any way. It’s having someone with that institutional knowledge of 18 years to make sure we have that,” Edgreen said.

In addition to hiring Goughnour as a temporary contracted worker, the commissioners last week also approved an agreement with ES&S, which supplies the voting machines in Greene County, to have company consultant Beth Lechman be on-site providing support to the office for two days this month and three days around next month’s election. The county will pay $2,050 per day to have Lechman assisting, which is customary during elections.