Will Westmoreland County finally hire an elections director?

WESTMORELAND COUNTY Director of County Operations Greg McCloskey has retired. People do this every day. Yahoo Finance reports an estimated 6.1 million Americans have retired this year — or will in the next 10 days. McCloskey is 61 — a hair short of the traditional 65 but definitely in the window for punching a clock for the last time. “The job is a grind, and there’s a point when you know it is time to retire,” McCloskey told Trib-Live. “It got to the point where there was always more work to do when I was done for the day.” Westmoreland County doubtless will miss him. Even residents who never knew his name may be touched by the job he did. Or should we say jobs? McCloskey was right when he said there was “always more work to do.” The county commissioners put more on his plate. McCloskey’s public works director job made him responsible for keeping the courthouse and other county properties functioning. That’s a lot on its own. But his competence made McCloskey an easy person to turn to in times of need. Take, for example, the county elections bureau. In 2020, Beth Lechman stepped down as Westmoreland’s elections director. Her deputy, Scott Sistek, stepped in to an acting role. JoAnn Sebastiani was hired, Sistek was fired and the office entered a period of upheaval that ended with Sebastiani’s firing shortly after the May 2021 primary. At that point, the commissioners decided to search for a replacement. In the meantime, McCloskey was asked to hold the reins. A year later, with no movement on hiring a new director, the county asked McCloskey to just do the job officially. The county operations director title was an umbrella that covered all of his responsibilities. This says mountains about McCloskey as an employee and a public servant. By the same token, the county should have been able to hire a competent professional to run one of the most important offices in the courthouse. It should have been able to do so in 2020 when Lechman resigned or in 2021 when Sebastiani was fired. The office needs — and has needed — stability. None of this is McCloskey’s fault. He did two jobs better than many do one — and perhaps he could have done just one longer if it were all he had to do. Commissioners say they will hire a new elections director come January. Let’s hope it works because they won’t have McCloskey as a built-in backup plan this time.