Tuesday’s Somerset county commissioners meeting started with a room consisting of disgruntled employees and residents. One of the issues, where attendees say they don’t see any progress, is allegedly with the 911 center, in downtown Somerset.
Somerset County Treasurer, Tony DeLuca, accused commissioners of allowing county employees to get paid, when they reportedly weren’t working. He says this is why one of the right to know requests was filed.
DeLuca and others allege that the commissioners destroyed evidence, including the extra pay, that they say was given to 911 employees.
“Can you tell us why those documents and electronic documents were deleted?”
According to state law, computer records must be retained for one year. DeLuca says the solicitor told him they only keep records for 2 weeks, due to the amount of employee logins.
Somerset county commissioners say there were none of those documents to begin with. They say this knowledge would have already been public if it existed in the first place. They say the extra pay is due to new hires.
“We’ve hired new dispatchers, we’ve trained new dispatchers. At their last meeting, we announced two support staff for the eventual director to come in.”
One local assistant fire chief says he is still concerned.
“It’s like we have a traumatic injury that needs a tourniquet, and we’re trying to put a band-aid on it. It’s not helping. Nothing has changed in the last six months.”
Commissioners say public portions of pay at the 911 center can not be handed over, without parts of it that would reportedly jeopardize the system’s security.