Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Coal Region Canary
Coal Region CanaryCoal Region Canary

Schuylkill County Government

Schuylkill Commissioners Shift $64K to Pay for Experian Credit Monitoring

Boots, Halcovage vote to approve; Hess votes nay

gary hess schuylkill county commissioner

Last week, Schuylkill County Commissioners voted to fund a contract with Experian to offer credit monitoring service to more than 9,000 people.

Those 9,000 people may or may not have had their identities compromised when two Tax Claims office employees allegedly conducted more than 300 “unauthorized searches” using the LexisNexis computer software.

The County has twice tried to publicly fire those 2 employees – who happen to be among the 4 Jane Doe plaintiffs suing the County in a sexual harassment lawsuit – to no avail.

But on the night of the second firing attempt, just a few weeks ago, the County agreed to hire Experian to provide credit monitoring service to the 9,000-plus people the government says may have had their identities compromised.

Commissioners Boots Hetherington and George Halcovage voted in favor of retaining the Experian service. Commissioner Gary Hess voted against it.

And on Wednesday evening last week, that’s how the Commissioners voted to move $64,000 from the County’s contingency fund to the Solicitor’s office. That amount is about what the County expects to spend, at least, for credit monitoring.

As the Courthouse reminded us recently though, this Experian service could cost us more than a quarter-million dollars. They did that in an attempt to paint the allegedly rogue employees in a bad light as they made their case for firing them.

Regardless of the cost, Hetherington said last week that offering the Experian service was “the right thing to do.”

The ones who did favor firing the employees, however, have failed to release the investigation report they referenced when trying to terminate them.

Subscribe to Coal Region Canary

Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!
Loading

Support Coal Region Canary

Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...


1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. PTFloridians

    March 22, 2022 at 9:33 am

    9000+ people that may have had their identity compromised, scandals galore, ethics issues, warring commissioners, secretive spending and money allotments, frozen-with-fear decision making…this County Courthouse has devolved into an absolute disgrace

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Advertisement