CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Clarion County Commissioners Ted Tharan, Wayne Brosius, and Ed Heasley hired Tim Cochran as Director of Employee Relations and Asset Management even though no public advertisement was posted for the position or approval of the Clarion County Salary Board of the individual hired.
The salary board previously approved both positions and individuals at a meeting of the salary board comprised of the three commissioners and County Treasurer Tom McConnell. McConnell abstained.
Two weeks ago at the last meeting of the Salary Board, a motion was made and approved to establish such a position, but McConnell abstained. The new position had a salary range of $36,000.00 to $44,000.00 for the 35 hours per week position. The effective date was March 21.
“It is a little change in policy,” said Solicitor Chris Gabriel. “I understand in the past they have done those together in the Salary Board, but that is not the way they should be doing it under county code, so it is a change. As we move along and find some ways of doing things in the past may need to be updated, we will change to put things in the right place.”
The position was not advertised, and Tharan said Cochran (pictured on left) had applied for a job with the county, and he was considered for the new position because of that. Tharan said there were “quite a few applications” for the position, but he did not have a specific number.
The practical impact of the policy change will be that commissioners can hire without McConnell’s vote. Gabriel said that McConnell still sits on the salary board and as county treasurer, he has a responsibility to make sure expenditures are appropriate. McConnell voted or abstained in some salary board hires, voicing questions as to how salaries are set for some positions.
The only reference to the salary for the new position was voted on at the last salary board meeting, and no action was taken at Tuesday’s salary board meeting. Asked how the pay was determined, Tharan said the previous HR director made about $47,000.00.
There is no official job description of the position.
“As we sit here right now, there is not a job description for that position nor descriptions for all positions,” explained Tharan.
“The job descriptions are currently being worked out for the entire county because we found a lot of inequities in various job descriptions,” said Tharan. “Jillian Stephens-Nick, HR director at Venango County, is contracted to help us with this and she’ll be working on job descriptions for everyone.”
Tharan did offer a general job description at the last salary board meeting.
“What we’ve done is we’ve taken part of the HR duties such employee relations and put someone in that position plus manage other parts of the county,” said Tharan. “Assets of the county would be all of the vehicle maintenance for all of your vehicle fleet, overseeing all of the real property such as buildings and be involved in the planning and development of that.”
Cochran comes to the new position with some HR experience in the military, according to Tharan.
He had a MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) of 71 Lima, performing administrative, clerical, typing duties, and made recommendations for elimination of deficiencies or improvement of administrative operations.
“I’m from Knox, born and raised,” said Cochran explaining his background. “I graduated from Keystone High School in 1983. I then left and did a two-year tour with the U.S. Army. I attended Clarion University, and during my tour at Clarion a job opened up as a full-time active position at the old reserve center by the Mall. I did a three-year tour there during Desert Storm. I came back and finished at Clarion University and then worked for a year at the Clarion Area School District in the absence of the office manager.
“I then went to work for Terry W. Kahle in Knox, and I’ve been there for 24 years. I’m very active with everything in Knox—Fire Company, ambulance, little league coach, my father’s the mayor, and my family’s still there.”
