SUNBURY - Instead of losing a secretary in his office, Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini has reached an agreement with the county commissioners and controller to eliminate his detective position.
The move is scheduled to be approved at a special county salary board meeting at 11 a.m. Monday at the administration center.
Rosini said an agreement was reached to eliminate Detective Andrew Orzehowski's position during a meeting earlier this week with the four permanent salary board members - Commissioners Vinny Clausi, Rick Shoch and Stephen Bridy, and Controller Tony Phillips.
Orzehowski, a retired state policeman, has served as county detective since Sept. 13, 2010. His current salary is $33,345.
Francis Bower, another retired state trooper, served as county detective from July 1, 2002, until his retirement Dec. 30, 2008.
The salary board voted 3-2 last week to eliminate a secretary's position in Rosini's office, effective April 30. Voting to approve the cut were Clausi, Bridy and Phillips. Shoch and Rosini voted against eliminating the position.
Rosini presented a detailed argument for wanting to maintain the secretary at last week's meeting and negotiated with salary board members before the motion to eliminate the post was approved.
Rosini said eliminating the detective's position will save the county approximately $38,000, which is about the same amount of money the county would save by cutting a secretary position.
Secretary Jennifer L. Bennick was previously identified through information provided by the county to the media as the person who would be cut from Rosini's office. But the district attorney said Wednesday he never chose which of his three secretaries would lose their job.
In response to the agreement reached with Rosini, Clausi stated, "Mr. Rosini came to the table and chose to get rid of his detective rather than a secretary. It was his choice to do so. I'm a little concerned about him choosing to cut the detective's position because when we eliminated that position three years ago, Mr. Rosini told us his office wouldn't be able to operate without a detective. The commissioners won't be responsible if there are problems in his office as a result of the detective being cut."
Bridy added, "Anytime someone comes to the table with an alternative, I'm all ears. But I want to make it clear that cutting the detective was Mr. Rosini's decision, not the salary board's."
Shoch confirmed negotiations took place with Rosini on Monday and that a vote to eliminate the detective position will be taken Monday.
Other positions cut on a 3-2 vote during the April 17 salary board meeting were a data entry clerk in the prothonotary/clerk of courts office and a deputy sheriff.
Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts Kathleen Wolfe Strausser and Sheriff Chad Reiner, who also presented arguments to maintain their employee positions at last week's salary board meeting, said Wednesday no negotiations with the commissioners have occurred about the positions since then.
Employees in the prothonotary and sheriff offices whose positions would be eliminated were identified by the county last week as data entry clerk Jamie Saleski and deputy sheriff Daniel M. Zettlemoyer. But The News-Item learned Wednesday that the positions of deputy sheriff Nicole Baker and data entry clerk Bonnie Lesher will be eliminated instead of Zettlemoyer and Saleski.
The salaries for Baker and Lesher are $31,762 and $26,527, respectively.
According to information provided to the media by Clausi, the county will save $136,854.53 in salaries and benefits by making the three cuts.
Orzehowski, Baker and Bonnie will be among 14 county employees whose positions have been eliminated since January, which resulted in a total savings of $680,630.21.
Clausi said the county plans to make a total of $1 million in cuts by the end of the year to avoid filing for bankruptcy.
Since Clausi took office in 2008, 103 county employees have been furloughed or terminated.