The City of Pottsville clearly seemingly violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act when it sent out a press release on Tuesday morning announcing that Mark Atkinson would be the new Mayor.
That announcement explicitly implies that City Council members have already decided that Atkinson will be the replacement for Dave Clews, who resigned from office earlier this month.
Sunshine Act rules mandate that any vote be taken in public and that council members or any public board members can not discuss or deliberate how they’ll vote or come to any consensus on a potential vote behind closed doors.
By announcing that Atkinson will be appointed the new Mayor on Wednesday, City Council members essentially tipped their cap that these deliberations have already taken place outside of public view, which is an obvious Sunshine Act violation.
The Sunshine Act requires that the public be given a chance to comment on any official action prior to it being taken. While a formal vote is purportedly planned for a 4:30 p.m. special meeting of City Council on Wednesday, it’s clear that council’s collective mind is made up on Clews’ replacement.
Pottsville advertised this special meeting of City Council in the Oct. 23 edition of the Republican Herald newspaper, which is also required per the Sunshine Act. At Wednesday’s meeting, Atkinson is expected to vacate his seat on City Council and the four remaining on the board will have another 30 days to name a replacement.
The process to replace a seat vacated by a resigning council member or Mayor is exactly the same under Third Class City Code, which is how Pottsville is classified.
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