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HomeMy WebLinkAbout855 JelliffSTATE ETHICS COMMISSION 308 FINANCE BUILDING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120 In Re: Lucile Jelliff : File Docket: 92- 015 -C2 Date Decided: September 15, 1992 Date Mailed: September 18, 1992 Before: James M. Howley, Chair Daneen E. Reese, Vice Chair Roy W. Wilt Austin M. Lee Allan M. Kluger The State Ethics Commission received a complaint regarding a possible violation of the State Ethics Act, Act 9 of 1989, 65 P.S. S401 et. seq. Written notice, of the specific allegation(s) was served at the commencement of the investigation. A Findings Report was issued and served', upon completion of the investigation, which constituted the Complaint by the Investigation Division. An Answer was filed and a hearing was waived. A Consent Order was submitted by the parties to the Commission for consideration which was subsequently approved. This adjudication of the Commission is hereby issued which sets forth the individual Allegations, Findings of Fact, Discussion, Conclusions of Law and Order. This adjudication is final and will be made available as a public document fifteen days after issuance. However, reconsideration may be requested which will defer public release of this adjudication pending action on the request by the Commission. A request for reconsideration, however, does not affect the finality of this adjudication. A reconsideration request must be received at this Commission within fifteen days of issuance and must include a detailed explanation of the reasons as to why reconsideration should be granted in conformity with 51 Pa. Code S2.38. The files in this case will remain confidential in accordance with Act 9 of 1989, 65 P.S. S408(h) during the fifteen day period and no one unless the right to challenge this Order is waived, may violate confidentiality by releasing, discussing or circulating this Order. However, confidentiality does not preclude discussing this case with an attorney at law. Any person who violates confidentiality of the Ethics Act is guilty of a misdemeanor subject to a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment for not more than one year, 65 P.S. §409(e). 1. ,ALLEGATION: Jelliff 92- 015 -C2 Page 2 That, Lucile Jelliff, a Supervisor for Ridgebury Township, Bradford County, violated the following provisions of the State Ethics Act (Act 9 of 1989), when she approved payments to her husband's garage for repairs to township vehicles: Section 3. Restricted Activities (a) No public official or public employee shall engage in conduct that constitutes a conflict of interest. (f) No public official or public employee or his spouse or child or any business in which the person or his spouse or child is associated shall enter into any contract valued at $500 or more with the governmental body with which the public official or public employee is associated or any subcontract valued at $500 or more with any person who has been awarded a contract with the governmental body with which the public official or public employee is associated, unless the contract has been awarded through an open and public process, including prior public notice and subsequent public disclosure of all proposals considered . and contracts awarded. In such a case, the public official or public employee shall not have any supervisory or overall responsibility for the implementation or administration of the contract. Any contract or subcontract made in violation of this subsection shall be voidable by a court of competent jurisdiction if the suit is commenced within 90 days of the making of the contract or subcontract. 65 P.S. 5S403(a),(f). 1I. FINDINGS: 1. Lucile Jelliff served as a Ridgebury Township Supervisor from September 27, 1990 to December 31, 1991. a. She was appointed to fill the unexpired term of a supervisor who resigned. b. She served as a Township Auditor from the early 1950's to January 1983. c. She was appointed Township Secretary in January 1983 and Jelliff, 92- 015 -C2 Page 3 serves in this position to the present. d. She has been the spouse of Glen Jelliff for over forty years. 2. Glen Jelliff owns and operates Glen's Garage, R.D. 3, Columbia Crossroads, Pennsylvania. a. He has provided automotive repair services to the general public since at least 1953. b. He has also provided automotive repair services to the Township during this period. 1) Some of those repairs have been at little or no cost to the Township. 3. The Township has most of its automotive repair work performed by three Township employees. a. The Township seeks outside services when repairs become technical or beyond the scope of Township employees training. 4. During early 1991, the Township Supervisors were reviewing the financial aspects of either replacing or repairing the Township's four -wheel drive truck. a. The Township Road Foreman was instructed to obtain quotes. b. Buying a new four -wheel drive truck was discounted when the highest trade -in offer received was only $5000.00. 5. At the March 12, 1991 meeting of the Ridgebury Township Supervisors, the supervisors discussed the problem with the motor in the Township four -wheel drive truck. a. Motion was made by Gary Wood, seconded by Lucile Jelliff and carried to have the Road Foreman arrange for a rebuilt engine to be installed or to have the present engine rebuilt. 6. The Road Foreman located a used replacement engine at Troup's Creek Auto Parts Company in Troupsburg, New York on April 1, 1991. a. Glen Jelliff was asked by the Road Foreman to travel to the junkyard to inspect the used engine. b. The used engine was purchased by the Township for Jelliff, 92- 015 -C2 Page 4 $2500.00 after he completed a favorable inspection. c. The required work necessary to replace the engine was too sophisticated for the Township employees. 7. The Township Supervisors decided to hire a private contractor to perform the labor to install the replacement engine. a. Two individuals were contacted but were unable to perform the repairs. 1) Lester Wilcox, a diesel mechanic, could not perform the repairs because the project conflicted with his full -time employment. 2) Larry Wooster, owner of a local automotive garage, was unable to do the repairs because he was rebuilding a school bus at that time. b. Glen Jelliff, third person contacted, agreed to perform the repairs. 8. After Jelliff began replacing the engine additional problems developed with the engine. a. The parts were replaced at no charge by the junkyard. b. This required repairs not anticipated by the P�" P'e Townahi rvi:sors . _ .. . • c. Glen Jelliff performed those repairs. 9. Requests for proposals or bids were not sought nor was any written contract made concerning the labor to replace the engine of the four -wheel drive truck. a. The details pertaining to the progress and problems of the engine replacement were discussed at Township meetings. 10. Township records confirmed payments were made to Glen's Garage for repair service on the four -wheel drive truck as follows: CHECK # DATE REASON AMOUNT a. 3069 4/15/91 Replace motor on the $ 600.00 four -wheel drive truck 1) This replacement was initially projected to be the only labor required on the FWD tuck. However, other repairs were subsequently required. gegi f f , Page 5 b. 92- 015 -C2 3114 7/10/91 11. Township minutes disclosed the following actions were taken by the Township Supervisors regarding payments made to Glen's Garage in relation to repairs to the four -wheel drive truck. a. April 16, 1991 1) Lucile Jelliff was present at this meeting. b. July 9, 1991 1 DATE OF INVOICE SERVICE a. 10/08/90 Adjust Points on Chevy truck (8/10/90) Remove, rebuild and $2000.00 replace the Detroit 318 diesel engine in the FWD truck and other miscellaneous labor for a total of 135 hours. Also, expenses for six trips for parts were included in this bill. TOTAL $2600.00 The Township's financial reports were read. Motion by Wood, seconded by Phillips and carried, to accept these reports and to pay the bills. The Township's financial reports were read. Motion by Wood, second by Phillips to accept these reports and to pay the bills. A separate motion was then made. Motion by Wood, second by Phillips and carried, to pay the bill from Glen's Garage for the labor on the FWD truck in repairing and replacing the engine. The Glen's Garage bill in an amount of $2,000 was segregated from the other bills submitted for approvement to alleviate any questions regarding a possible conflict of interest for Lucile Jelliff. Jelliff did not participate in the decision to pay this bill. 12. After Lucile Jelliff was appointed Township Supervisor, Glen's Garage performed the following automotive repairs to Township vehicles: AMOUNT $ 12.00 CHECK NQ 2988 Jel,.if, f , 92-015-C2 Page 5 b. 3114 7/10/91 Remove, rebuild and $2000.00 replace the Detroit 318 diesel engine in the FWD truck and other miscellaneous labor for a total of 135 hours. Also, expenses for six trips for parts were included in this bill. a. April 16, 1991 b. July 9, 1991 1 DATE OF ,INVOICE SERVICE, a. 10/08/90 Adjust Points on Chevy truck (8/10/90) TOTAL $2600.00 11. Township minutes disclosed the following actions were taken by the Township Supervisors regarding payments made to Glen's Garage in relation to repairs to the four -wheel drive truck. The Township's financial reports were read. Motion by Wood, seconded by Phillips and carried, to accept these reports and to pay the bills. 1) Lucile Jelliff was present at this meeting. The Township's financial reports were read. Motion by Wood, second by Phillips to accept these reports and to pay the bills. A separate motion was then made. Motion by Wood, second by Phillips and carried, to pay the bill from Glen's Garage for the labor on the FWD truck in repairing and replacing the engine. The Glen's Garage bill in an amount of $2,000 was segregated from the other bills submitted for approvement to alleviate any questions regarding a possible conflict of interest for Lucile Jelliff. 2) Jelliff did not participate in the decision to pay this bill. 12. After Lucile Jelliff was appointed Township Supervisor, Glen's Garage performed the following automotive repairs to Township vehicles: AMOUNT $ 12.00 CHECK 2988 Jgklif, f , 92-015-C2 Page 6 b. 01/21/91 c. 05/06/91 Inspection Internation $ 15.00 (9/1/90) Four -wheel drive $ 15.00 inspection (9/6/90) TOTAL $ 42.00 Inspection, parts $102.50 3032 replacement (1/17/91) TOTAL $102.50 Pickup inspection $ 25.00 3079 $195.00 Labor for lights, upper & lower ball - joints, tie rods, tie rod ends, speedometer TOTAL d. 09/10/91 Four -wheel drive inspection Labor for replacing gasket under a blower, replace air cylinder left front brake, replace governor and air compressor TOTAL $215.00 $ 10.00 3138 $225.00 $235.00 e. These bills were approved for payment by the Supervisors including Lucile Jelliff. 1) Jelliff signed all checks made payable to Glen's Garage. 13. Lucile Jelliff filed a Statement of Financial Interests for the 1990 calendar year on February 15, 1991. a. On line 11, direct or indirect sources of income, Jelliff reported Ridgebury Township and Social Security. b. On line 15, financial interest in any legal entity in business for profit, Jelliff reported a co- ownership in Glen's Garage, R.D. #3, Columbia Cross Road, Pennsylvania. 14. Lucile Jelliff filed a Statement of Financial Interests for the 1991 calendar year on February 20, 1992. Jelliff, 92- 015 -C2 Page 7 On line 11, direct or indirect sources of income, Jelliff reported Ridgebury Township and Social Security. b. On line 15, financial interest in any legal entity in business for profit, Jelliff reported a co- ownership in Glen's Garage. 15. Lucile Jelliff filed a Statement of Financial Interests for the 1989 calendar year. a. The form is dated January 24, 1990. b. The filing was made on form SEC -1 Rev. 1/92. 1) That form was not printed until January, 1992. c. The form lists sources of income as Ridgebury Township and Social Security. d. The form lists a co- ownership in Glen's Garage. 16. Jelliff did not file any other Statements of Financial Interests with Ridgebury Township. III. DISCUSSION: a . As a Supervisor for Ridgebury Township in Bradford County, Lucile Jelliff, hereinafter Jelliff., a official as th .: im ... term is defined under Act 9 of 1989. 65 P.S. 5402. AA , her conduct is subject to the provisions of the Ethics Law and the restrictions therein are applicable to her. Initially, it is noted that Section 9 of Act 9 of June 26, 1989 provides, in part, as follows: "This amendatory act shall not apply to violations committed prior to the effective date of this act, and causes of action initiated for such violations shall be governed by the prior law, which is continued in effect for that purpose as if this act were not in force. For the purposes of this section, a violation was committed prior to the effective date of this act if any elements of the violation occurred prior thereto." the occurrences in this case transpired after date of Act 9 (June 26, 1989), we must apply of Act 9 to determine whether the Ethics Act Since effective provisions violated. the the was 441iff, 92- 015 -C2 Page 8 Under Section 3(a) of Act 9 of 1989 quoted above, a public official /employee shall not engage in conduct that constitutes a conflict of interest. The term "conflict of interest" is defined under Act 9 of 1989 as follows: Section 2. Definitions "Conflict" or "conflict of interest." Use by a public official or public employee of the authority of his office or employment or any confidential information received through his holding public office or employment for the private pecuniary benefit of himself, a member of his immediate family or a business with which he or a member of his immediate family is associated. "Conflict" or "conflict of interest" does not include an action having a de minimis economic impact or which affects to the same degree a class consisting of the general public or a subclass consisting of an industry, occupation or other group which includes the public official or public employee, a member or his immediate family or a business with which he or a member of his immediate family is associated. 65 P.S. 5402. In addition, Section 3(f) of Act 9 of 1989 specifically provides in part that no public official /employee or spouse or child or business with which he or the spouse or child is associated may enter into a contract with his governmental body valued at five hundred dollars or more or any subcontract valued at five hundred dollars or more with any person who has been awarded a contract with the governmental body with which the public official /employee is associated unless the contract is awarded through an open and public process. In the instant matter, we must determine whether Jelliff violated either Section 3(a) or 3(f) of Act 9 of 1989 quoted above regarding her action to approve payments to her husband's garage for repairs to Township vehicles. Jelliff served as a Ridgebury Township Supervisor from the date of her appointment on September 27, 1990 to the end of the term on December 31, 1991. Her spouse, Glen Jelliff, owns and operates Glen's Garage in Columbia Crossroads, Pennsylvania. Glen's Garage has been in business since 1953 and has provided automotive repair service to the Township during that time period Jelliff, 92- 015 -C2 Page 9 at little or no cost to the Township in some instances. (Fact Finding 2). Although most of the Township's automotive repair work is done by Township employees, outside services are obtained when the repairs are beyond the training of the Township employees. (Fact Finding 3). In 1991, when the Township .Supervisors were considering either repairing or replacing the Township four -wheel drive truck, it was decided that a rebuilt engine should be purchased and installed. The Township Road Foreman located a used replacement engine and requested Glen Jelliff to travel to inspect the engine at a junkyard. The Township purchased the used engine but it was beyond the technical abilities for the Township employees to install. The Township Supervisors then decided to hire a private contractor to perform the engine replacement work but the first two individuals who were contacted were unable to perform the repairs. (Fact Finding 7). Glen Jelliff, the third person contacted, agreed to perform the repairs. In the course of making the repairs, additional problems arose; additional parts had to be replaced by Jelliff, even though not anticipated by the Township Supervisors. No proposals or bids were sought concerning the engine repair work for the four -wheel drive truck. (Fact Finding 9). According to Township records, Glen's Garage received two checks for repair services on the four -wheel drive truck consisting of check number 3069, dated April 15, 1991, for the replacement of the engine in the amount of $600, and check number 3114, dated July 10, 1991, in the amount of $2000 for the removal, rebuilding and replacement of a diesel engine in the four -wheel drive truck and other miscellaneous labor and travel time for parts totalling $2600 for the entire project. The Township minutes reflect that on April 16, 1991, action was taken to pay for the repairs of the four -wheel drive truck with Jelliff being present at the meeting. On July 9, 1991, the minutes reflect that Jelliff did not participate in the decision to pay a bill to Glen's Garage in the amount of $2000 which had been segregated from all other bills being considered by the Township Board. The record further reflects that as to invoices from Glen's Garage which were submitted for other automotive repairs to Township vehicles by invoices covering the period of time from October 8, 1990 through September 10, 1991, Jelliff participated in the Board decisions to approve payment of these bills and signed checks made payable to Glen's Garage to satisfy these invoices. (Fact Finding 12). Finally, as to the Statements of Financial Interests filed by Jelliff, she did list, as a financial interest in a legal entity, her co- ownership of Glen's Garage. (Fact Findings 13, 14, 15). Jelliff, 92- 015 -C2 Page 10 In applying the provisions of Section 3(a) of Act 9 of 1989 to the above facts, we find a technical violation regarding Jelliff's actions as to the approval for payment or signing checks as to automotive repairs on Township vehicles done by Glen's Garage. First, there was a use of authority of office in that on April 16, 1991, Jelliff was present at a meeting of the Township Board which approved payment for repairs by Glen's Garage on the Township's four -wheel drive truck. In addition, as to other automotive repairs that were done by Glen's Garage for the Township, the bills were approved for payment by the Supervisors including Jelliff who also signed checks made payable to Glen's Garage. There was a private pecuniary benefit as to the profit which was made by Glen's Garage on these transactions. Parenthetically, we do note that there were instances where Glen's Garage did work for the Township at little or no cost to the Township. Finally, there was a private pecuniary benefit to Jelliff who was the co - owner of Glen's Garage, to her spouse who is a member of her immediate family as that term is defined under the Ethics Law, and lastly, to the business with which she is associated, Glen's Garage. Accordingly, we find a technical violation of Section 3(a) of Act 9 of 1989 regarding Jelliff's actions relative to the automotive repairs done by Glen's Garage. As to Section 3(f) of Act 9 of 1989, we also find a technical violation but only as to the repairs for the Township four -wheel drive truck. As to that repair, the contract exceeded $500 but was not awarded through an open and public process as required by Section 3(f) of Act 9 of 1989. as to other repairs which are listed in Fact Finding 12, we find no violation of Section 3(f) since the repair contracts as to those four separate instances did not exceed the $500 threshold requirement of Section 3(f). Based upon the totality of the facts and the circumstances of this case, we will take no further action. IV. CONCLUSIONS OF LAW: 1. Lucile Jelliff as a Ridgebury Township Supervisor was a public official subject to the provisions of Act 9 of 1989. 2. A technical violation of Section 3(a) of Act 9 of 1989 occurred when Jelliff voted to approve the payment of bills and signed checks as to automotive repairs which were done for the Township by Glen's Garage, a business which she co -owned with her spouse who is a member of her immediate family. 3. A technical violation of Section 3(f) occurred when a Township four -wheel drive truck was repaired by Glen's Garage, a business which was co -owned by Jelliff and her husband, a member of her immediate family, when said contract exceeded $500 and was not awarded through an open and public process. In Re: Lucile Jelliff : File Docket: 92- 015 -C2 : Date Decided: $evtember 15, 1992 s Date Mailed: September 18, 1992 ORDER NO. 855 1. A technical violation of Section 3(a) of Act 9 of 1989 occurred when Lucile Jelliff, as a Ridgebury Township Supervisor, voted to approve the payment of bills and signed checks as to automotive repairs which were done for the Township by Glen's Garage, a business which she co -owned with her spouse who is a member of her immediate family. 2. A technical violation of Section 3(f) occurred when a Township four -wheel drive truck was repaired by Glen's Garage, a business which was co -owned by Jelliff and her husband, a member of her immediate family, when said contract exceeded $500 and was not awarded through an open and public process. 3. Based upon the totality of the facts and circumstances, we will take no further action. BY THE COMMISSION, J S M. HOWLEY,.. i-H