THE ISSUE
Lancaster County’s new clerk of courts began her tenure last Tuesday by firing a top aide who won an award for employee of the year just weeks ago, LNP | LancasterOnline’s Tom Lisi reported in Thursday’s edition. “Clerk of Courts Nicky Woods confirmed the termination of Dimary Serrano on Wednesday morning but did not provide the reasoning behind the decision. Woods asked a reporter to contact her via email so she could provide a written response. Later she said she could not comment on a personnel matter. Serrano could not be reached for comment Wednesday.”
Imagine how other county employees felt last week after their colleague — and a recently lauded one, at that — was summarily shown the door.
Serrano, the former deputy clerk of courts, who served as the interim clerk for several months last year, won the Lancaster Bar Association’s Courthouse Employee of the Year award in December, an honor bestowed annually by county judges on an employee in the court system.
Lancaster County President Judge David Ashworth called the termination “unfortunate,” but said it was “within the full authority of the new clerk of courts.” He noted that Serrano had “been terrific as far as the court’s concerned.”
Last month, after Serrano had been named Courthouse Employee of the Year, Ashworth said she “has just done an absolutely stellar job.” The judge said Serrano has “got a very strong work ethic and worked far beyond the normal business hours to pick up the mantle” of her office.
Serrano didn’t respond to an LNP | LancasterOnline request for comment after winning the award, perhaps because county Commissioners Josh Parsons and Ray D’Agostino seem to have imposed a code of silence in county government.
An LNP | LancasterOnline Right-to-Know request in early 2022 found that there is no written policy on how county employees should handle media inquiries. But Larry George, the county’s chief clerk — who works on behalf of the commissioners — issued a directive in February of that year to non-elected county department heads, prohibiting them from offering “commentary and conjecture on any topic.” George directed them to decline inquiries from journalists and to notify the commissioners’ office about being contacted.
He later described it not as a policy, but as a “position.”
However it’s characterized, it’s an attack on government employees’ constitutionally protected right to speak about work-related matters without needing their employer’s permission.
And it’s clearly had a chilling effect. Longtime employees who are experts in the complexities of Lancaster County government rarely are permitted to engage with journalists. So their professional expertise remains in a vault to which only Parsons and D’Agostino seem to have the key. The local newspaper, in ordinary circumstances, would serve as a conduit for their knowledge to be conveyed to county residents. But the Parsons/D’Agostino-run county government is not ordinary.
LNP | LancasterOnline Opinion Editor and editorial board member Suzanne Cassidy caught a glimpse of the county “position” when she was inadvertently copied on an email intended for a county employee. “We always need to be careful when receiving requests from media,” one county department supervisor wrote. “This one appears to be on the level. Let me know if Ms. Cassidy calls back for any additional information on the situation.”
Cassidy had contacted county officials to alert them about a county resident who had called her work phone and possibly needed their assistance. Cassidy didn’t know the caller but was worried for her. Fortunately, Cassidy’s request was deemed to be “on the level.”
This is the culture in which county employees appear to be operating — a culture in which even a request for help for a county resident is met with suspicion simply because it came from a journalist.
If there was a culture of fear in county government before, it must have been exacerbated by Serrano’s firing.
As LNP | LancasterOnline’s Lisi noted, “The clerk of courts office is a clearinghouse for documents and filings in the criminal court system. Its duties include processing judges’ orders, court fines and fees, among other administrative responsibilities.”
Serrano joined that office in June 2021 and, under Clerk of Courts Mary Anater, rose from a clerical specialist role to chief deputy clerk of courts.
“She was the lowest paid employee when I got there, but she’s impressive,” Anater said in December.
Anater sought reelection as clerk of courts, but lost to Nicky Woods, a fellow Republican, in last May’s primary. After Anater formally resigned Oct. 2, Serrano took over as acting clerk of courts.
Lancaster County Treasurer Amber Martin told LNP | LancasterOnline that she got “an up-close and personal view of (Serrano) in action, and it came as no surprise to me that the Lancaster County courts honored her.”
So why was Serrano fired?
All we know is that Anater had tussled with Parsons and D’Agostino repeatedly. She won office in 2021 after the Republican commissioners appointed Jackie Pfursich, Anater’s predecessor as clerk of courts, to be the county solicitor. After taking office, Anater reported that Pfursich had improperly stored political and personal files on the county government computer network. Anater later sparred with D’Agostino and Parsons over damage she caused to a newly paved courthouse garage exit ramp.
So perhaps Serrano’s working relationship with Anater doomed her. Or perhaps it was the Lancaster Bar Association honor — county GOP officials, Parsons included, view the bar association with contempt.
A tangled web of competing allegiances and petty dramas lies inside the Lancaster County Government Center.
Woods, the new clerk of courts, was endorsed by Parsons and D’Agostino. The self-described conservative Christian got involved in politics after refusing to close her dog day care business during COVID-19 shutdowns — a stance that likely won Parsons’ approval. And she now holds an elective office that he once held. He would not be the first person to take a particular interest in an office he used to oversee.
Nonunionized county employees are considered “at-will” — that is, under state law, they can be terminated at any point without cause, as long as they’re not fired for discriminatory reasons (such as sex, race, religion, nationality, age or disability).
Anater told LNP | LancasterOnline that she had no doubt another employer will recognize Serrano’s “exceptional qualities and hire her in seconds.”
We hope this proves true. But we remain concerned for other county employees, who now must be wondering where the hammer falls next.
