Restoring integrity to the courthouse was the common theme of what candidates for Schuylkill County Commissioner said during a debate Tuesday night at the John E. Morgan Auditorium in the Student Community Center at Penn State University’s Schuylkill Campus.

The candidates answered eight questions posed by the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs Committee.

The candidates who answered the questions were: incumbent Democratic Commissioner Gary Hess, former mayor and resident of Schuylkill Haven; Democratic challenger and retired educator Dr. Rita Anczarski Baldino of Kelayres, Kline Township; Republican incumbent, farmer and former state Agricultural Secretary under former Gov. Tom Corbett, Barron “Boots” Hetherington of Union Township; Republican challenger and bakery owner and operator Borough Councilman Larry Padora of New Ringgold; and Libertarian candidate, Army veteran and information technology professional Gregory Woll of Schuylkill Haven.

Mary Jo Moss, an electrical engineer who finished third in the Republican field of eight candidates, is waging a write-in campaign, but did not participate in the debate.

Chamber President Robert Carl Jr., who posed the questions to the candidates, said only the candidates whose names were on the ballot were invited to participate in the debate.

Without mentioning Commissioner George Halcovage’s name, candidates referenced restoring integrity to the courthouse.

“Employees have a lack of respect for each other at the courthouse,” Baldino said.

“We have to restore the integrity at the courthouse,” Padora said. “We have to make sure county employees know they are in a safe working environment, make them glad they are coming to work.”

Hess said unfunded mandates from the state and federal governments pose “a burden to Schuylkill County taxpayers,” while Woll believes the biggest issue is that the county is open to cyber attack.

Prison overcrowding

The consensus among the candidates was the solution to overcrowding at the county prison was the rehabilitation of the county-owned former Schuylkill Transit System garage in the St. Clair Industrial Park into a pre-release center, to make more room in the prison for drug and alcohol, mental health and other like programs to help inmates and reduce recidivism.

Prisoners returning to crime after being released and then returning to jail are causing the county to house some prisoners in other county jails, which is costing Schuylkill County $1 million a year.

“When it was first proposed in 2011, it was $1 million over budget and rejected,” Hess said. “When it was again proposed in 2011, the cost was $7.5 million. A task force now says it will cost $15-20 million. The cost is escalating the longer we wait.”

Hetherington said spending the $15-20 million won’t necessarily wipe out all of the extra expenses, but it will eliminate the $1 million a year spent on housing prisoners elsewhere.

“Let’s get it done,” Heatherington said,

“Let’s do it,” Padora said of the pre-release center. “It will create jobs that will employ county people.”

Woll agrees with the idea, but feels the STS garage is too close to residential areas, and that another location should be chosen.

Reassessment

Most of the candidates said county-wide property tax reassessment was court-ordered, and that the commissioners had to do it. “But make it fair,” Hess said.

Baldino said data should be kept updated and that reassessment should be “cyclical,” and done every five years or so instead of waiting 27 years. The last assessment was in 1986.

Hess said in his 12 years as a commissioner, taxes have been raised only three times due to a surplus the commissioners have maintained and used,

Baldino said community groups should be engaged to help provide services to county residents, thus saving the taxpayers money.

Transparency

Transparency in government, Hess said, could be aided by community advocacy groups who could “make suggestions to make it better.” Hetherington also liked the idea of advocacy groups.

Baldino said the groups should be in the four corners of the county, as well as a fifth group.

Padora said social media like Facebook live streaming and Zoom should be used more, and Woll suggested meetings be moved around the county, particularly to school districts, and meetings should be at 7 p.m.

Medical services

The candidates agreed delivery of human services - drug and alcohol abuse treatment, children and youth services, and mental health services is the most important job of county government.

They also agreed that dying volunteerism with emergency medical services is a problem for emergency medicine in the third-largest geographic county in Pennsylvania.

“We’ve lost 11 ambulance services in the last five years,” Hetherington said. “The EMT course costs $1,500. It’s hard to ask an 18-year-old for $1,500, when they want to buy a car. Maybe vocational schools could offer fire and EMS (emergency medical services) training as part of their education.”

The environment

The safe disposal of biosolids came up. Padora said the best way to make them safer is to eliminate “forever” chemicals from biosolids as the state of Michigan did.