Frackville officials have agreed to pay a special investigator for his work and retain the services of special counsel but it’s unclear if the two matters are related.
The paying of the investigator and the retention of special counsel were included under the “Law & Order Report” of Thursday’s council meeting agenda.
On Thursday night, council members voted unanimously to pay Strategic Investigative Resources LLC the “final cost” of $3,500 for work it did on what was previously described as a personnel matter regarding a borough employee or employees. That works out to 20 hours on the job.
Only after being pressed by a resident during a Public Comment portion of the meeting did anyone from Frackville Borough disclose more information on this $175 per hour investigation. And what was said publicly wasn’t much.
Solicitor Mark Semanchik said that James McGowan, the principal owner of Strategic Investigative Resources LLC, completed his investigation and report and submitted it to the borough.
“The investigation’s been concluded so we’re now moving to the next step of the process,” Semanchik said.
Is the next step of the process hiring special counsel? Perhaps.
Council members voted unanimously to approve retaining the services of Eckert Seamans, which has offices in 11 states including several in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh). The firm will charge Frackville between $150-295 per hour for its services.
But Semanchik and other officials wouldn’t confirm whether the two actions are connected.
Again, only when pressed during public comment did anyone from the borough discuss why the firm was being retained. Council members only voted on the matter with no public discussion.
Semanchik said Eckert Seamans will be advising Borough Council members on an “employment investigation matter” and it’s for “Borough employee purposes” but did not say if the concluded investigation and the hiring of a special counsel were connected.
He did say that the range in rates covers anyone from a “secretary paralegal to a senior partner in the firm.”
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