An employee of the McKean County District Attorney’s Office has
been suspended for two weeks without pay, after inappropriate
e-mails were sent to another individual on a county-owned work
computer.

Meanwhile, McKean County Commissioner John Egbert confirmed to
The Era on Thursday afternoon that a second individual, who works
in the county’s Information Technology (IT) department, is no
longer employed by the county. It was not clear whether these two
incidents are related.

No further information was released by county officials.

Contacted by an Era reporter at the county jail for comment
about a statement released earlier in the day by the DA’s office,
Warden Tim Woodruff later released a statement via e-mail referring
all further inquiries to Interim County Administrator Michele
Alfieri, who also serves as the county solicitor and director of
human resources.

The names of the individuals were not released by Egbert,
Alfieri or McKean County District Attorney John Pavlock. The trio
cited personnel matters.

Alfieri did, however, release an e-mail statement to The Era
regarding the situation.

“It has come to our attention that The Bradford Era is
questioning a possible personnel issue in county government. Rest
assured that if county policies were violated that any such matters
have been investigated and dealt with as are all violations of
policy.

“It is the county’s policy that personnel matters will not be
discussed with the press or any other outside sources as we respect
the privacy rights of our employees,” Alfieri added.

contested primary election on May 15, in which all three
commissioner seats are open and up for election.

Responding to questions by The Era, Pavlock said in a statement
faxed to The Era on Thursday morning that “an incident has come to
my attention regarding the use of a work computer by an employee in
my office to send inappropriate and non work-related e-mails to
another individual.”

Pavlock said in the statement the e-mails consisted of type
print correspondence only.

“To make it clear that I do not, in any way, condone this type
of activity, the employee involved has been suspended for two weeks
without pay,” Pavlock wrote in the statement. Pavlock also said
he’s withdrawn his support for a pay raise for the employee.

“Since this involves a personnel issue, it would be
inappropriate for me to provide any further details regarding this
matter,” Pavlock added.

When contacted for further comment on Thursday afternoon,
Pavlock declined to name the individual who was suspended or
whether the e-mails were directed to another employee within the
county.

In regards to the IT employee, Egbert declined to provide
further information or details on that situation, again citing
personnel issues.

However, Egbert said the individual has not been employed by the
county for about a week, and that the county is currently
investigating possibilities to fill that void.

As it stands, the county has a contract with Insight Technology
of Warren County, according to Egbert. The company provides
consulting work.

“We are trying to figure out whether we need another person full
time or what Insight can provide on an interim basis to get us
through getting the system stabilized,” Egbert said.

Meanwhile, the warden released a statement via e-mail to The Era
regarding the situation.

“This is a personal issue that has been dealt with,” Woodruff
said. “Further inquiries should be directed to Michele
Alfieri.”

County officials have also declined to describe the nature of
the e-mails, how many or how many times they were sent, citing
personnel concerns.

The Era has also contacted Commissioner Chairman Clifford Lane
and former county administrator Richard Casey about the situation
over the past several weeks. Both said the situation was a
personnel matter.

An informed source had said shortly after the incident occurred
that the warden “had done a dumb thing and that he was
reprimanded.”

The courthouse rumor mill has been churning for several weeks
about the situation. It also comes to light mere days before the
upcoming primary election.

Running for re-election are the two incumbent commissioners of
Egbert and Clifford Lane, along with Pavlock, who is running
unopposed. The heated race for commissioner features a total of 11
candidates.

(Era Reporter Marcie Schellhammer and Era Correspondent George
Petrisek contributed to this report.)