SUNBURY – During the Northumberland County Commissioners meeting Tuesday it was announced that the county’s contract with Attorney James Best to serve under Northumberland County Children and Youth services has been terminated in favor of Mark H. Lemon.
The vote was not a unanimous one. County Commisioner Kymberly Best had an objection and a message for her ex-husband, Attorney Best, who was present at the meeting, “I think that it’s wrong and I think it’s shameful and vengeful that he’s losing the contract. And I’m stating that obviously because we had a personal relationship. I’m very sorry to see that.”
County Commisioner Rick Shoch had a rebuttal to Best’s statement, “It’s unfortunate that people want to portray this as an act of vengence or something like this, but that certainly was not that. If that was that was about, it could’ve happened well before this.”
This disagreement did not end there, when we caught up with Commissioner Best after the meeting, she had more to say about the process to oust Attorney Best, in closed door meetings that didn’t include her, “The majority commissioners, that’s two, Commissioner Schiccatano and Commission Shoch, decided to end this contract and send him a letter…prior to a vote, prior to any discussion with him whatsoever about their needs and requests moving forward.”
Commissioner Rick Shoch says the decision to not retain Attorney Best was all about the time he could devote to the position, and the fact that Attorney Lemon is a better fit for what they need. Shoch also says that if Commissioner and Attorney Best want to discuss this in public, he’s certainly willing to oblige, “If he wants to have a public airing, with all the specifics and all the things that went into the decision, I’m more than happy to do that if he wants to sign a release. But my policy is if someone wants to open up a can of beans like that, I’m going to make them sit. If he wants to go that route, we can do that.”
The contract with Attorney Mark H. Lemon runs through the end of June, 2018. (Christopher Elio)
