Last week, Frackville council members voted unanimously to approve a contract with a third-party investigator to look into a personnel issue with a Borough employee or employees.
However, that vote raises Pennsylvania Sunshine Act “compliance issues,” according to a legal expert with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
Strategic Investigative Resources LLC was hired by Frackville at a rate of $175 per hour. The company is owned and operated by James F. McGowan, a retired homicide investigator.
The vote to approve that contract was not on the council’s regular public agenda for its meeting last Thursday. Instead, according to Solicitor Mark Semanchik, the matter was added to it under the “New Business” heading and was born out of a discussion held in executive session prior to the commencement of that meeting.
Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act forbids local governments from taking votes on actions not on a public agenda at least 24 hours prior to the start of a meeting. That’s especially true of votes that approve the spending of public funds, which Frackville’s vote last week certainly did.
There are rare exceptions to this rule, specifically in the event of an emergency or a matter that presents a real or present danger to the public.
Melissa Bevan Melewsky, PNA’s Media Law Counsel, tells The Canary (which informed her of the circumstances of last week’s vote as fully and accurately as possible) that last week’s vote presents Sunshine Act “compliance issues” and “creates potential liability” for the Borough.
Frackville officials declined to disclose details on the nature of the investigation they’re pursuing as a result of their vote last week. Semanchik simply said it was in regard to a personnel issue with a “borough employee or employees.”
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