Carbon County commissioners on Thursday dropped a motion to hire back for a third time the retired first deputy Clerk of Courts on a contract basis.

Theresa M. McGowan would have been paid $25 an hour for up to 140 hours between Sept. 16 and Oct. 25 to do clerical work for an employee in the Clerk's office who will be out on medical leave.McGowan, who retired on Oct. 2, 2015, has been hired under the same terms twice this year to train first one, then another, replacement.But this time, Commissioner William J. O'Gurek objected, saying it sets a "dangerous precedent" and that $25 an hour is too much for clerical work.Commissioners' Chairman Wayne E. Nothstein warned the move may further slow down the backlog of work done by that office, resulting in a greater burden on the county's judges.Efforts to reach McGowan for comment were unsuccessful.The Clerk of Courts office handles court records and payments.After O'Gurek spoke, Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard and Nothstein each reconsidered their initial votes in favor of the contract, and rescinded them.Solicitor Daniel A. Miscavige said if Nothstein and Gerhard rescinded their votes, the motion would die.They did, and O'Gurek did not cast a vote.The actions followed a lengthy discussion."I wondered if we are setting a precedent by hiring someone on a contract basis to fill in in a department when someone is out on leave," O'Gurek said.The motion was to be on last week's agenda, but canceled after commissioners discussed the matter. The new request came from the Clerk's office Wednesday afternoon, giving commissioners too little time to discuss whether it should be added to the agenda. The deadline for agenda item requests is 4 p.m. Monday.O'Gurek said he knew of no instances in his 13-year tenure in which someone was hired on contract to "fill in."Further, $25 an hour is too much for a "fill in" worker doing clerical tasks, he said.That amount was fine for a person coming to train a new first deputy, he said."I think we are setting a dangerous precedent of saying to our department heads and elected officials, that when somebody's going to be out for four or six weeks, just come to the commissioners' office and request a contract and ask for $25 an hour," O'Gurek said. "I just think it's not a financially responsible move."In the past, he said, when staff in a department was down, the remaining employees shared the increased workload or put in an extra hour a day "and not just give reckless independent contracts for fill-in duties."Nothstein agreed such contracts have not been done in the past."However, there are other circumstance I think, where do we draw the line?" he said.Nothstein said the county's judges are concerned the commissioners are not supporting the court system."We all know that this particular office is way behind on their work, and, for whatever reasons, which we cannot go into, we are jeopardizing a lot of our court cases. It could end up costing us more money than what we would have to pay this person," he said."With court cases backing up more and more all the time, it puts the county at risk," Nothstein said.He said the judges have talked with commissioners about the backlog, and "they kind of understand our side of the story, but they also have their obligations to meet as far as the court system.""It's really a tough decision no matter how we vote on this matter today," he said.Gerhard said he would rescind his vote in favor of the motion."I think it needs to be further discussed," he said.