Judge Dismisses Sunshine Lawsuit Against Pottsville on Technicality, Says Petition is “Pretty Strong”

Schuylkill County Judge Christina Hale dismissed a last-minute lawsuit filed against the City of Pottsville last week.

However, she also had strong words for City officials related to their actions leading up to the presumptive installation of Mark Atkinson as Pottsville’s next Mayor.

Hale dismissed the lawsuit filed last Wednesday by Bobby Weaver Jr. on a technicality. Weaver included the wrong parties in his court filing. Instead of naming the remaining individual members of City Council, Weaver named the City of Pottsville itself as the lone party in the suit.

His petition reached Hale’s desk just 90 minutes before the expected swearing-in ceremony and prompted her to issue an injunction against the event from going forward last week.

Pottsville lawyer Ed Brennan, who represented the City at Wednesday morning’s hearing at Schuylkill County Courthouse, successfully argued that Weaver didn’t name the proper parties and that Weaver’s lawsuit should be dismissed.

Hale agreed.

“I know you’re not an attorney,” she told Weaver, “but we do have to follow the rule of law.”

Because of the procedural error, Hale said she had no jurisdiction to rule on the potential Sunshine Act violation.

But during the hearing and issuing her ruling to dismiss the case, Hale also told City officials that Weaver’s case, as presented in his filing last week, was “pretty strong.”

“The bigger picture here is his petition is pretty strong,” Hale said.

Brennan explained that the City of Pottsville’s press release last week announcing a swearing-in ceremony for Atkinson was “an error.”

The day before the scheduled meeting when the swearing-in ceremony was supposed to happen, the City said that Atkinson would be the next Mayor. However, no public meeting or vote was taken to arrive at that conclusion.

That presumes that City Council members arrived at that decision behind closed doors.

Despite trying to excuse the release as an “error” and then keeping the post live on Facebook through the course of Wednesday morning’s hearing, Hale said, “Don’t you think that’s important to take something down that’s an error? That’s a problem. It causes some concern that there was some meeting behind closed doors. You guys have to follow the Sunshine Act and the next time it’s violated, he is very well within his right to get an attorney and come back here and follow the proper procedure.”

In her formal ruling, Hale added in regard to the potential Sunshine Act violation, “I’m not saying you didn’t follow it here but I’m just saying I can’t reach the merits of this case because I don’t have jurisdiction.”

Hale then told all parties involved, “I don’t want to see any of you here before me on this issue.”

Responding to Hale’s admonishment that Pottsville needs to follow the Sunshine Act, City Solicitor Tim Pellish said, “Quite frankly, we do.”

Hale urged City Council members to heed the advice of Pellish going forward.

After the hearing, Atkinson said, “There was an error in how the press release was written. The press release was written in the spirit of transparency, actually.”

When asked how it was written in the spirit of transparency, Atkinson said, “To let the citizens know that there would be an appointment of a Mayor.”

However, that press release last week specified that Atkinson would be the one appointed. Questioned about how it was determined that he’d be the appointed Mayor, Atkinson said, “I was the only one on the agenda. No one else came forward.”

That begged the question of when, as he said, did no one else come forward?

Atkinson said, “As of the time the agenda was published.”

He explained that the reason that press release remained on Facebook through today’s hearing, Atkinson said it was “an oversight.”

When Brennan was asked how Atkinson’s name appeared on the announcement of the swearing-in ceremony, he said, “It was a mistake.”

At 10:10 a.m. Wednesday, the City posted its Public Notice of a Special Council Meeting to be held on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m. 

Just before noon, the agenda for that meeting was posted with one action item, listed simply as “Appointment of Mayor.”

Subscribe to Coal Region Canary

Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!

Support Coal Region Canary

Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...