Former Luzerne County Council member says family hiring ban must be followed

Former Luzerne County Council member Linda McClosky Houck is urging council members to take action over the hiring of a county judge’s son to a management position in the operational services division.

The nepotism section of the county’s home rule charter says county elected officials and employees cannot hire or supervise a family member, which does not apply in this situation. However, the personnel code adopted by council in April 2012 expanded prohibitions and outright banned hiring of family members of specific individuals: county Court of Common Pleas judges, magisterial district judges, county council members, the county manager and eight division heads.

A conflict with this code prohibition was recently brought to light in county Manager Romilda Crocamo’s hiring earlier this year of Nick Vough as project management director at $72,775 annually. Vough is the son of county Court of Common Pleas President Judge Michael T. Vough.

New research shows at least one other example of a conflict with the code that predates Crocamo’s hiring as manager. In September 2020, Shane O’Donnell — the son of county Magisterial District Judge Daniel O’Donnell — was hired as a county correctional officer.

McClosky Houck, who served on council from 2012 through 2021, told council she became aware of Vough’s hiring through recent media reports and took issue with Crocamo’s interpretation.

Crocamo had said the charter was followed in the hiring and that the council-adopted code was inconsistent with the charter. She said the issue would be brought to council to remedy as part of the administration’s ongoing review of issues in council-adopted codes.

But McClosky Houck said the personnel code must be followed.

“Ms. Crocamo apparently believes that since that specific prohibition is not mentioned in the home rule charter, she is not bound to honor the personnel code,” McClosky Houck wrote. “What I have read regarding this situation, especially the rationalization made to avoid abiding by the personnel code, is so astounding that I feel compelled to write today to mention a few things that have, so far, been absent from this discussion.”

Specifically, McClosky Houck said the charter “sets the law in broad terms” and is then “fleshed out in greater detail in the codes.” Operational details are then “expressed in the policies.”

Policies controlled by the manager cannot override either the charter or the codes, she said.

“The fact that a specific prohibition is not listed in the charter is not surprising; the charter is the broad brush that paints the picture,” she wrote. “But the personnel code does exactly what it is supposed to do: it spells out in greater detail how the charter is to be implemented. There is not a ‘conflict’ between the charter and the code! The charter informs the code, and the code provides the finer print by which the manager is to operate.”

McClosky Houck said any future plans to amend the code are irrelevant in the current situation and noted she is not questioning the competence or qualifications of Vough.

“I urge all of you to consider this situation and demand that the manager, first, acknowledge and accept responsibility for violating the personnel code, and, second, correct this situation,” she told council.

Crocamo said Thursday there are legal constitutional questions with the code ban.

“The code has to be consistent with the charter, not the other way around,” Crocamo said. “I stand by my position and look forward to working with Nick Vough for a long time moving Luzerne County forward.”

Council Chairman John Lombardo said he cannot comment on specific employee hirings but said in general he has come to realize through research that council can resolve multiple county government issues and concerns by reviewing and updating codes. The county also has charter-mandated administrative and ethics codes.

Lombardo said he will work to reactivate council’s code review committee to consider updates.