Oct. 24 -- One day after giving notice it needed 30 days to review the request, the City of Scranton on Tuesday released the employment application of the fire chief’s son.
“It’s encouraging when an agency realizes their delay may not be consistent with the law,” said Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
The application for Jacob DeSarno was provided Tuesday afternoon by Nancy Krake, the city’s open records officer. The application is lightly redacted for personal information and contact information, such as a Social Security number, telephone number and email address. There is nothing unusual on the 24-year-old’s job application, which The Times-Tribune sought since directed to file a Right To Know Law request while reporting on his hire earlier this month.
On Monday, the newspaper received a letter from the city dated five business days after the initial filing stating that it expected to grant or reject the request within 30 days, commonplace language from the city. The extension drew criticism from Melewsky as a delay due to the request’s narrow scope.
Melewsky said delays create barriers to access and discourage people from seeking public records.
On the application, Jacob DeSarno noted that he helped rescue three children and their mother once from an overturned SUV on Interstate 81. The rescue reflects his ability to remain calm under pressure, he wrote. He also noted two convictions on the application for minor offenses from 2013.
DeSarno pleaded guilty to simple assault, a misdemeanor, in April, two months after the applications were due, so the offense is not noted there. The city views only felony convictions as exclusionary because it would disqualify an applicant from holding a Pennsylvania EMT license.
The newspaper initially filed the Right to Know request Oct. 11 as part of the reporting for an Oct. 13 article on Jacob DeSarno’s hire. He is currently in training at Harrisburg Area Community College’s fire academy, having scored 91.75 on the civil service test earlier this year, a score near the top of the list.
Fire Chief Patrick DeSarno, the applicant’s father, said that his only involvement amounted to paying the application fee. Civil service officials defended Jacob DeSarno on the high test scored and noted everything is done anonymously. Jacob DeSarno did not list his father as a character reference on his application.
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