Tempers flared, at least for a little while, during Wednesday morning’s Schuylkill County Commissioners work session meeting.
Commissioners Chairman Larry Padora and frequent public commenter Jeff Dunkel went at each other using their outside voices for several minutes after Dunkel used much of his allotted time to share his thoughts on the new Jane Doe lawsuit filed in federal court against Schuylkill County, former Commissioners George Halcovage, and several current County officials.
The high-volume conversation between the two also covered a separate, unrelated investigation that Padora said was based on false allegations and an error with the date of a recent property tax sale conducted by the third-party contractor Schuylkill County uses to run its Tax Claim office.
Despite the tension in the room during the Commissioners meeting, each was more cordial toward each other during the following Salary Board public comment period and after both meetings had been adjourned.
Lawsuit Costs
The lawsuit was filed by a woman contracted to clean the Courthouse who accuses Halcovage of sexual misconduct and the County officials of ignoring a federal Consent Decree brought about by a previous, similar Jane Doe lawsuit and then retaliating against her by choosing another cleaning contractor the following year.
The County has since defended itself from the accusations against it and the current officials by saying they followed the Consent Decree and did not retaliate against the cleaning contractor in selecting another business for the job.
Dunkel’s comments focused on the money he says will be spent by Schuylkill County defending itself and the officials named in the lawsuit, spending that he said will be pushed onto taxpayers. He specifically went after Commissioner Boots Hetherington, County Administrator Gary Bender, and Human Resources Director Anthony Kern for their alleged roles in the latest Jane Doe lawsuit.
“Now the taxpayers are on the hook for millions,” Dunkel said.
Padora pushed back against Dunkel’s claim that the County will spend “millions” on the latest Jane Doe lawsuit, just as it spent at least $5 million on the two previous sexual harassment lawsuits, one of which involved Halcovage and another that involved former Chief Tax Assessor Kent Hatter.
According to previous Coal Region Canary reports, Schuylkill County reached settlements with four Jane Doe lawsuits totalling $4,899,999.89, including legal fees. Prior to the settlements, the County admitted it spent an additional $2 million in legal costs as the lawsuits made their way through federal court.
When the settlements were announced, the County said about $1.55 million would be paid directly by the County and that same amount would be covered by Schuylkill County’s insurance carriers, with another $100,000 paid by a third-party human resources company contracted at the time while the Courthouse searched for a permanent replacement for the director’s job.
The Other “Investigation”
During the heated exchange, Padora and Dunkel discussed another “investigation” which no one provided details on its substance, just that one existed.
At previous Commissioners meetings, Dunkel alluded to allegations of misconduct involving the Coroner’s Office and a County official. No names were named initially until the Aug. 19 Commissioners meeting when Dunkel told Padora, “It involves you.”
On Wednesday, Padora deviated from the discussion about the Halcovage lawsuits and the amount of money the County spent on previous ones and how much it might spend on this latest case and said the allegations that prompted this investigation were completely untrue.
“You said about spending money. You made allegations about me,” Padora said regarding that investigation. “It was completely proven false.
“You made a false statement against me and your comments were is was to get me,” he added.
Padora said the County spent $7,000 on an investigation into the claims Dunkel had made over the summer. He asked Dunkel if he planned to issue a public apology for prompting the investigation.
“You guys have bigger fish to fry than $7,000,” Dunkel said in response.
Dunkel said he wasn’t aware and was never notified that the investigation was concluded. He declined to commit to the public apology that Padora asked for mostly because he hadn’t been notified of the investigation’s conclusion.
“We’ll see,” Dunkel said, “because I never even pinpointed anyone.”
Instead, he said Padora and Bender were the ones that named names in the investigation
But the ruckus between the two continued for a few more minutes and it only got louder. As Dunkel walked away from the podium inside the Commissioners Board Room, Padora yelled to him, “You make false allegations against people and you can not be held accountable.”
Dunkel yelled back, “Get your story straight!”
“You get yours straight,” Padora replied. “The only one who makes this county a circus is you, 100 percent!”
The circus comment is in reference to a routine post Dunkel makes on his Facebook page, where he livestreams most Commissioners meeting on a post labeled “This week’s circus 🎪.”
Tax Sale Error
Dunkel and Padora also exchanged words over what the Commissioner said was an attack on the local employees of Elite Revenue Solutions, the company that runs the County’s Tax Claim Office. Two of those employees happened to be two of the four Jane Doe plaintiffs in the original Halcovage lawsuit.
Dunkel has been critical of an error made by Elite Revenue, in which it posted a date for an Upset Sale in September that went against the state’s Real Estate Tax Sale Law (RETSL) because it was prior to the earliest possible date it could be held.
The date of the sale was eventually continued until a week later (from Sept. 10 to Sept. 17) but Dunkel is of the belief that simply moving it to a compliant date without giving proper notice to property owners vulnerable to the tax sale would open the County to lawsuits. He said property owners who lost their properties in the sale could end up suing to void the sales and thus, would cost the County money in more legal battles.
Padora pushed back on that stance and said that it was on Elite Revenue to handle and potential fallout as it’s in the company’s contract with the County. He also wondered why Dunkel was attacking two of the Jane Does in that office after he’d championed them in their lawsuit against Halcovage and the County for several years, especially when they were suspended from their jobs when the Tax Claim office was run interally.
Dunkel said he was not attacking those employees. Rather, his criticism was leveled at Elite Revenue as a company because they also made the same mistake with Luzerne County, where it also runs the Tax Claim office.
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 ...