Schuylkill County’s director of community development Gary Bender will be filling in as interim county administrator until the commissioners find a replacement for Mark Scarbinsky, who retired last week.
The county commissioners approved Bender’s promotion Wednesday.
“I will take a backseat to no one in terms of credentials to do the job,” Bender said.
Bender, 65, of Porter Township, has been with the county since March 2006 when he was hired as grant writer and administrator. He has since taken on numerous responsibilities, such as administering the county demolition and community development block grant programs.
Bender was assigned as director of the newly created office of community and economic development in 2013. The office consolidated the CDBG, blight and demolition and grant administration programs. He is also responsible for approving all purchase orders and check requests and office management for the commissioners suite at the courthouse.
“In all that time, no responsibilities were taken from me, things have been added on,” Bender said. “So I do believe I have the qualities to do it. I think I have the track record here at the county and I think my record speaks for itself that I can do the job.”
“I have a wealth of experience in county government,” Bender said. “I have the ability to make the right decisions. All the decisions in spending money comes from the commissioners, not from the county administrator.”
Bender’s promotion went into effect Wednesday. His salary increased from $51,420 to $67,700.
The county is still looking for applications for a permanent administrator. As of Wednesday, Bender said he does not intend to apply for the position.
“It’s a logical transition,” commissioners Chairman George F. Halcovage Jr. said. “Gary has done an outstanding job here and I’m sure he will continue to do an outstanding job.”
Halcovage said that Scarbinsky may still be used as a consultant for the county. He said the administrator position has already been advertised and there is also the possibility of bringing back an assistant administrator position.
“What the administration staff and our workers do on a daily basis, they are the key that keeps everything moving,” Halcovage said. “I couldn’t be prouder to have someone of the caliber of Gary Bender be in that position.”
Commissioner Gary J. Hess, the lone Democrat on the board, voted against the appointment, citing Bender’s role as chairman of the county’s Republican party.
“I feel this is one of the highest appointed positions here in the county,” Hess said. “I feel that this position should be as nonpolitical, unbiased as it can be, no matter the person’s political affiliations. The reason I am opposed to it is because the appointment is going to the chairman of a political party. I feel this is not right and in a way I feel is unethical.”
He continued, “I want to make myself very clear. This is no way an attack on Mr. Bender’s work ethic or his capability of doing the job. Even if the person is on the Democratic side, my feelings would be the same on this position.”
Hess also said that the board had plenty of time from when Scrabinsky made his intentions to retire to hire someone for the position.
“We almost had three months notice that Mr. Scarbinsky was planning to leave and in all that time a new administrator could have been in place and the search could have been put out there,” Hess said. “I am very disappointed because it was not until Friday of this past week that I was informed of the intention of Mr. Bender’s appointment.”
Hess said that it was Bender who discussed the appointment with him and not the board chairman.
“It is my feeling that this was planned all along and that the stalemate of this process is where we are at today,” Hess said.
As to why it took three months to decide, Halcovage said, “We wanted to make sure we were making a good decision. I don’t think the timing of that is as major an item as having a good transition going forward and get someone into the position as soon as possible.”
Bender said his political affiliation does not influence any decision he makes in his job at the county.
“You can talk to anyone I worked with in here, politics ends at the door when I walk in here in the morning,” Bender said. “We have not time for that at the county.”