One councilman in Mahanoy City learned last week that apparently the first rule of the federal lawsuit filed against the borough regarding towing rotations is that you do not talk about that lawsuit in public.
At the end of last week’s Mahanoy City Borough Council workshop meeting, Councilman John Hruniuk asked, “What’s going on with that parking rotation?”
Hruniuk misspoke and meant the borough’s towing rotation. He clarified after being corrected and said, “We voted on having it and then all of a sudden, we don’t have it and we’re in a lawsuit.”
The councilman was referencing a federal civil lawsuit filed by the head of Northern Keystone Towing and Recovery LLC against the Borough of Mahanoy City, its Borough Manager, Chief of Police and the principals of a competitor company for conspiring to keep his company off a towing rotation there. That lawsuit was filed back in late-June.
Councilman Thomas McCabe told Hruniuk that a towing rotation is in place.
That didn’t end the conversation, much to the chagrin of at least some of Hruniuk’s colleagues on the board.
He started to ask, “Why …” but was interrupted again by McCabe.
“It’s in place,” McCabe said curtly.
That didn’t do enough to keep Hruniuk quiet either.
Hruniuk continued, “OK, it’s in place now but it should have been in place a while …” but was interrupted again.
“It was in place,” Councilman Michael Connolly said, who also failed to stop Hruniuk from talking about it.
“They weren’t following it,” he said.
Either McCabe or Connolly again interrupted him and said, “They were following it.”
Hruniuk snapped back, “They weren’t following it. That’s why we have a lawsuit. Why do we have a lawsuit then?”
What Hruniuk was saying is the basis for the lawsuit, that Mahanoy City did supposedly have a towing rotation – companies that get calls from the Borough when it needs a vehicle moved – but it wasn’t being followed to favor a rival company.
Hruniuk was then told that Borough Council members can’t talk about the ongoing litigation in public so Hruniuk switched gears slightly to talk about the status of a proposed conduct policy for council members.
Hruniuk was then told that he was violating that very conduct policy for council members by talking about the towing rotation lawsuit. That really got under his skin and touched off a small feud among he and his fellow council members.
“That’s part of the problem here. You’re like, ‘We can’t talk about that but it’s going on,'” he said. “Everything’s like we have a secret secret.”
Connolly took exception to the idea that the council is keeping secrets … or “secret secrets” in this case.
“What’s kept secret secret,” he asked. “What’s kept secret secret? If you’re going to make an accusation, back it up.”
Hruniuk responded, “That’s what I’m saying, secret secret.”
Solicitor Eric Lieberman entered the chat at this point and told Hruniuk that council members are urged not to speak of any ongoing litigation, including the towing rotation lawsuit.
Lieberman said that if Hruniuk or any other councilperson spoke of the lawsuit in public that it’s likely the borough’s insurance carrier would drop it.
“The carrier is not going to cover you if you make comments about litigation while it’s ongoing. You’ll lose your insurance,” he said.
Hruniuk still wanted to know publicly, “Why are we even in that litigation?”
Lieberman said the lawyer representing the Borough in that lawsuit should provide updates on the case’s progress.
The Solicitor said, “I suggested it to you several times that you don’t discuss that kind of stuff in the public because that’s not where it gets discussed with your lawyer. But that doesn’t seem to register.”
Hruniuk responded, “It just seems to me, that should be settled.”
📰 READ ABOUT THE LAWSUIT: Schuylkill County Towing Company Sues Borough, Officials Alleging a Conspiracy
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