SUNBURY – Northumberland County commissioners aired grievances at the end of Tuesday’s public meeting. Commissioner Sam Schiccatano objected to recent newspaper stories about the Department of Corrections visit to Northwestern Academy and the lack of bidders for wire mesh that was delivered to the Celotex site, “If I get brought into the paper and I feel like I have to defend myself and people think things haven’t changed, I will continue to defend myself. Remember I’m not the one who first goes into the paper and gets a front-page article on Sunday, I’m the one who has to react to what was said.”
Schiccatano said commissioner Kymberley Best chose to talk to the media rather than work out differences of opinion. Best said it is not her job to always agree with the majority, “My job is to listen, to communicate, and to be transparent with the people who elected me to be in this position and I feel I good about that. I feel I am doing that.”
Schiccatano says the board can do better, “We can disagree up here, but we can do it cordially and I hope that happens. Listen, from here on in, I hope that we do better.”
When it was suggested the former commissioner Vinny Clausi was influencing her decisions, Best objected in the strongest terms, “We don’t get along because he has inserted himself into this board and caused distrust. And until we let that shadow, that dark, dark shadow in the past, we can never move forward. I guarantee you I do not ask or seek the advice of a man that destroyed nearly my family and certainly, nearly my career.”
Best added that it will take time for trust to be reestablished, but that she has the utmost respect for the other commissioners. (Jennifer Wakeman)
