Joan Hoggarth is retiring as head of the judicial services and records division in Luzerne County, as announced by county Manager Romilda Crocamo on Monday.
This person oversees the deeds, wills, sheriff, coroner, and civil/criminal court records departments, as well as the county records storage facility in Hanover Township.
A resident of Hanover Township, Hoggarth has the longest tenure of the eight division heads.
She became division head in May 2013, just over a year after the January 2012 establishment of the home rule government structure.
As the division head, Hoggarth worked to combine and simplify offices in her division and reduce a backlog in processing criminal court records, according to previous reports.
In her retirement letter, Hoggarth mentioned that she has always been a team player and will miss many employees. Her proudest accomplishment was fixing accounting failures in all of the former row offices she oversaw.
“In my 22 years of employment with Luzerne County, I have always aimed to operate offices in the most cost efficient ways, while also collaborating with numerous vendors to provide free, online access to hundreds of thousands of records,” Hoggarth wrote.
Hoggarth expressed her pride in working with “exceptional employees” and “many fantastic supervisors.”
“I am proud of my achievements with Luzerne County and the fact that my annual evaluations have recognized those achievements and my dedication to the taxpayers of Luzerne County,” she wrote.
Hoggarth began working for the county in 2002, initially as an account executive in the controller’s office under past controller Steve Flood, and later as senior accounts manager and deputy recorder of deeds. She also served as interim head of the judicial services and records division from September 2012 until she was formally appointed to the position.
Before her county employment, Hoggarth held positions as a branch manager and teller supervisor at PNC Bank from 1983 to 2001.
Hoggarth earned $96,862 annually as division head.
She will officially retire on May 20.
Crocamo, in an email to the council regarding personnel matters, wished Hoggarth success in her future endeavors and thanked her for her service to the county. She also stated that she will announce the appointment of an acting division head in the coming days.
County council must confirm the manager’s nominees for permanent division head appointments.
In the past year, Crocamo has filled four vacant division head positions since taking on the role of county manager.
Most recently, in April, the council approved James Rose as head of the administrative services division with an annual salary of $98,000.
This position became available when the prior head of administrative services, Jennifer Pecora, was appointed as the new head of operational services in February, with an annual salary of $98,800, replacing Greg Kurtz, who left the position in December.
Also in February, the council confirmed the hiring of Joseph Yeager as the new chief public defender with an annual salary of $105,000. He replaced Steven Greenwald, who was removed from the position in October.
Last November, the council confirmed Mary Roselle as head of the budget/finance division with an annual salary of $115,000. The prior head of the division, Brian Swetz, left the position in August to take a job in the Wilkes-Barre City government.
The rest of the department leaders, along with their current pay, as stated in county reports: James Wilbur, in charge of correctional services, makes $96,862; Lynn Hill, overseeing human services, earns $103,797; and Harry Skene, the main county lawyer, receives $100,890.
