During the summer of 2021, Westmoreland County commissioners were in a bind.

They had just fired the county’s election bureau director following what they said was ongoing mismanagement. The deputy director had been fired months earlier. So commissioners turned to longtime public works director Greg McCloskey to assume the election bureau role along with his other duties.

Officials announced Thursday that McCloskey, 61, of Greensburg has retired, leaving commissioners in another bind with two key county roles to fill.

“The job is a grind, and there’s a point when you know it is time to retire,” McCloskey said during a phone interview. “It got to the point where there was always more work to do when I was done for the day. I am just a tired old man.”

His last day of work was Dec. 13, when he quietly left the courthouse for the final time.

McCloskey, whose mother, Myrna, was a popular courthouse figure for decades, started his career as a meter reader at West Penn Power in 1985 and rose through the company ranks before moving on to a job as Westmoreland County’s parks and recreation director in 2009. He was promoted to public works director a year later and, over the next decade, became the commissioners’ go-to man for any difficult problems that arose.

As the coronavirus raged throughout 2020, McCloskey was temporarily assigned to assist the county’s new election bureau director JoAnn Sebastiani as the department’s workload grew leading up to the contentious 2020 presidential election. When Sebastiani was fired a year later, McCloskey was assigned to be election bureau interim director. He was appointed as the full-time director a year later, receiving a raise and a new title of director of county operations that enabled him to preside over the election bureau and public works department.

Commissioners praised McCloskey’s work to revamp the elections department amid ongoing changes that saw record voter registration and turnout, new and constantly changing procedures involving expanded mail-in voting, staff changes and intensified scrutiny all while overseeing county road crews, maintenance staff, parks services and building operations.

“We’re proud of the work he did. Without Greg, I don’t know where we would be right now,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

“The loss of Greg McCloskey will be felt for a long time. He’s a stellar manager, and he put our election bureau on the right track.”

McCloskey cited his staff in both departments as the reasons for his success and said his future will consist of time spent with friends and family and some travel in the coming months.

“My whole career, I’ve been given a lot of opportunities and been given a lot of roles which was a compliment to me. I’ve put in a lot of hours, and now it’s time to move on, play some golf and take some trips,” McCloskey said.

Commissioners on Thursday hired Dante DiCario, McCloskey’s top assistant, as the county’s new public works director. Parks and recreation director Brandon Simpson will serve as DiCario’s deputy director.

A new election bureau director is expected to be selected next month, commissioners said.

“I never thought anyone would have a courthouse legacy as impactful as his mother, but he did. (McCloskey’s) legacy will be felt for years to come,” Commissioner Ted Kopas said.

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