November 1, 2005 Public Hearing:
Background:
There is an old rule on the township books that both employees and appointees must resign their positions before running for a township office. This rule was authored ( I believe over 10 years ago) by a previous board. The board became aware of the rule when Diane Hollenbach emailed the attorney asking for an interpretation. All employees and appointees were informed of this rule in September, after the supervisors became aware of it. Paul Martin (The democratic candidate for Gloria's unexpired term) resigned from his appointed position on the Agriculture security board to comply with this rule. Randy Wolfe, a planning commission appointee, is running for tax collector and is consequently in violation of this rule. Randy was informed and decided not to comply with the rule. This placed the supervisors in a difficult situation. We have at least one person who resigned to comply with this rule, and perhaps some employees that curtailed their political involvement to comply. How can the supervisors be fair to people who resigned and turn a blind eye toward Randy who is not resigning. If the supervisors had changed the rule, they could be accused of favoritism toward Randy. If they did not change the rule they are accused of unnecessary litigation.
Public Hearing:
Randy represented himself at the hearing. Randy had Joe Rudderow and Gloria Kemmerer testify on his behalf. Randy demonstrated that the rule had not been enforced in the past. Randy also demonstrated that there was nothing in the PA law that prohibits a member of the planning commission from running for tax collector. That is true, but the trouble was Randy had run afoul of a township policy pertaining to appointees not a state law. The township demonstrated that Randy was in violation of the rule. Randy's testimony convinced me that he had requested the hearing in good faith, and genuinely believed the rule was wrong, and superseded by state law.
Special Meeting:
We mad a motion that Randy would removed from the planning commission and remain eligible for appointment to the planning commission after the election. The motion passed. Barbara Hassler, the incumbent tax collector Randy is challenging, said that all this fuss over this rule has given Randy more free publicity that she could afford to purchase.
http://hometown.aol.com/maidenminutes/minutespg1.html
I still have copies of the Fredrick Bastiat book “The Law” available to Maidencreek residents. Email me if you want one.
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