The first of three payments of thousands of dollars in bonuses were in Friday’s payroll for the McKean County Public Defender’s office.

Chief Public Defender Phil Clabaugh, with a 2025 budgeted salary of $126,837, was approved by a 3-to-1 vote of the salary board for a $20,000 bonus, split into three payments over 18 months, as all the bonuses were. Temporary full-time assistant public defender Rob Kinnear, with a salary of $78,000, was awarded $7,500, as was part-time public defender Cord Kinney. The office manager was awarded a $5,000 bonus in three payments, pending union approval.

The salary board, which approved the bonuses by a 3-to-1-vote Friday, consists of the three commissioners and controller Jody Bloomquist, who voted against each bonus.

The money is coming from a Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Indigent Defense Grant of more than $94,000 that had been obtained by the county. The uses were limited; bonuses to retain staff were allowed, the commissioners argued.

Nothing in the grant could be used to cover the cost of the salaries, which might help alleviate a pending tax increase.

“There’s money in there for recruitment, there’s money in there for supplies,” Chairman Tom Kreiner said at the meeting. “The biggest portion was put in for recruitment. The public defender asked us for this.”

It wasn’t permitted to use it to offset salaries, as it had to be used for something new that hadn’t been in the budget before.

“You can’t supplant what’s already budgeted,” Kreiner said.

Bloomquist wasn’t pleased with the decision to award large bonuses.

“The real issue I have, 18 months ago we just gave the public defender a $30,000 raise,” he said. “I felt like he came in here and practically blackmailed us to give it to him or he was going to leave, and now we’re going to give him an additional $20,000?

“It just seems like this would be one of the most egregious giveaways done since I’ve been here,” Bloomquist said. “We’re picking just a huge amount that’s going to create a hardship between the attorneys.”

Attorneys have left the public defender’s office to join the district attorney’s, and vice versa. And there has been significant turnover, the controller said. “I think a bonus like this creates even more hardship.”

Commissioner Marty Wilder said, “We’ve known about this grant for a few months now. Believe me, we’ve talked about the same issues.”

She said they had the opportunity to discuss it with commissioners from other counties at a recent County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania conference. All are facing the same issue.

“It’s either spend the money with bonuses or give it back,” Wilder said.

“It’s your position we cannot use this money to pay for appointed attorneys?” Bloomquist asked, explaining they get paid $110 an hour to represent a client the public defender cannot represent due to a conflict with another client or something of that nature.

“We’re going to do some of that,” Commissioner Carol Duffy said.

Why not more of that and smaller bonuses, Bloomquist asked, “The overall amount, this is just outrageous.”

All three commissioners approved, Bloomquist voted against the measure.

As for bonuses to the assistant public defenders, he again voiced his disapproval.

The county controller brought up the pay of Kinnear at $78,000 when the board had voted against raising the salary of assistant district attorney Tom Coppolo to $72,500. “Two weeks ago we shot down a raise for the assistant district attorney when the assistant public defender is already making $13,000 more,” Bloomquist said. “We already have a $23,000 difference in pay…”

Wilder interjected, “You want to talk about a difference in pay, how about the district attorney and the public defender?”

Kreiner stopped the discussion, reminding that the district attorney’s salary of $223,311.74 is set by the state.

Bloomquist said District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer presented statistics about cases her office prosecutes and the number of cases handled by the public defender. “Amongst their staff, they are doing 12 cases a day, where the public defender’s office is doing just over five.”

Coppolo should make at least the same as Kinnear, he said.

“We denied that and we’re just going to give (the public defender’s office) more money on top of it?” Bloomquist asked.

“The state wants the indigent issue addressed and this is how they do it,” Duffy said. “It creates a lot of issues for local government.”

After the meeting, Bloomquist said, “I expressed my frustration on how I thought the bonuses were too large and it creates a disparagement with the other attorneys.

“I thought the money could be used better elsewhere,” he said.

Kreiner, Wilder and Clabaugh spoke to The Era by phone later Friday, explaining this shouldn’t be looked at as anything to do with county taxes or the general fund; use of the funds was banned from applying to either.

“The grant came out early last summer,” Clabaugh said, explaining it was Gov. Josh Shapiro’s response to indigent defense. “We’re next to the last in the country to do it.”

It is unknown if the money will be an annual grant, or if this was a one-time boost to public defenders’ salaries. Therefore, instead of raises, counties were able to give retention bonuses to staff in public defenders’ offices. Some other improvements are coming as well, he explained.

“We’re getting some more computers to streamline our defense to have quicker access to our materials,” Clabaugh said. “Staffing is difficult. I went 14 months without an assistant. We’ve had a vacant full-time job since March. Recruiting to that position is difficult.”

Wilder said, “We know it’s a lot of money. We think (Clabaugh’s) worth it. We are trying to come up with salaries that will attract people and keep them here.”

She agreed that the optics aren’t good, but said it’s something the commissioners are good with.

“There’s a lot of competition and everyone’s vying” for the attorneys who are able to do the jobs well.

District Attorney Stephanie Vettenburg-Shaffer, contacted by The Era for comment Friday afternoon, said she was discouraged by the bonuses. There are county employees who qualify for public assistance, the McKean County Drug Task Force is funded at just $9,500 a year, and there’s a lot of animosity among employees and an alleged fear of retaliation for speaking out, Shaffer said.

“I have been warned many times not to speak out against the commissioners,” she said. “But I have employees currently in union negotiations who are trying to merely maintain their salaries and received pushback from the commissioners. And I am also cognizant of the fact that the commissioners only fund the McKean County Drug Task Force by $9,500 per year when we are in the middle of an opioid epidemic. And we have county employees receiving public assistance. Yet in the same breath, $40,000 in bonuses and exorbitant raises have been approved by these commissioners.”

Shaffer continued, “The current salaries and bonuses have created a lot of animosity among courthouse employees and other elected officials. It is discouraging that the prosecution and law enforcement branch of the county is not looked at in the same light.

“But what’s done is done,” she said. “This is the situation that has been created. In fact, it was created when the commissioners began approving salaries for certain departments that exceed the state average and far exceeds those of neighboring counties — all on the taxpayer’s dime.”

The county’s top prosecutor said she was told by another elected official that “the commissioners take care of their own,” referring to the fact that the public defender’s office reports to the commissioners. “I hate that this situation created by the commissioners has led to animosity among county employees and departments.

“The commissioners have set a higher premium on defense than prosecution and law enforcement — and even the drug epidemic,” Shaffer said. “All department heads fear retaliation for commenting on this and I expect my office and a few others to suffer. But I would be remiss if I did not suggest that our focus should be on the opioid epidemic and quality representation of the commonwealth.”

She continued, “To say people in the courthouse are outraged is an understatement and fear retaliation for speaking up. I am fortunate in my salary. But many people who work in the county have to rely on public assistance. In fact, some of their salaries are not much more than the bonuses just approved by the commissioners.

“I’m sure there will be an attempt to defend the bonuses and exorbitant salaries and attacks on me and others who have broken the code of silence in the county,” Shaffer said. “I know one elected official was already the victim of a verbal outburst by one of the commissioners for comments he made about this. But the readers can see this for themselves — they can find the average salaries for these positions online and will see that the salaries McKean County pays for law clerk and public defender are higher than the state average (even when the average includes Philadelphia and Pittsburgh) and the county pays the assistant district attorney less. And every department has been unable to fill attorney positions. Very few positions are reimbursed by the state and are, in fact, paid for by taxpayer dollars.”