HomeMy WebLinkAbout631 CottleMr. Forrest Cottle
R.D. #1
Jefferson, PA 15344
Re: 85 -158 -C
Dear Mr. Cottle:
f _44
) L - R
STATE ETHICS COMMISSION
305 FINANCE BUILDING
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120
ORDER OF THE COMMISSION
Order No. 631
Date Decided: March 10, 1988
Date Mailed: March 16, 1988
The State Ethics Commission has received a complaint
regarding you and a possible violation of Act 170 of 1978. The
Commission has now completed its investigation. The individual
allegations, conclusions, and findings on which those conclusions
are based are as follows:
I. Allegation: That you, a member of the Southwestern Water
Authority, violated Section 3(a) of the Ethics Act which
prohibits a public employee's or public official's use of office
or confidential information gained through that office to obtain
financial gain, in that you influenced the removal of a
Southwestern Water Authority member because he voted to end the
bonuses that were annually awarded to the employees of the
authority Which included your sons.
A. Findings:
1. You have served as a member of the Southwestern Water
Authority since 1981. You are currently serving a second five
year term.
a. You were appointed to the authority by the Jefferson
Township Supervisors.
b. You also have served as a Jefferson Township Auditor
for the past eleven years.
Fr. . f •rr > t rtt.
F. The Southwe tern '•' t er Authority is compr i. ;e'd of even
r or s. Four .,pc; intments are made by the Je r ferron rownsh)
E:upervisort; and three rppoi;rtments are made by the Jefferson
3ornugh Council.
P. You hive two sons who have been or are currently employed ')y
the authority.
a. Eric Cottle was hired for summer employment and 'Irked
in 1982 and 1984.
Starting date: June 7, 1982.
Age: 24.
Earnings: 1982 - $1,133.13, Pay rate: $3.50/hour.
1984 - $1,904.25, Pay rate: $3.50 /hour.
b. Timothy Cottle was hired'part -time, and was prrmot.Rd to
full - time. He is currently employed in a m:r;alement
position.
Application date: February 7, 1984.
Age! 27, Date of Birth: June 30, 1963.
Earnings: 1984 - not noted.
1985 - $26,382.08, pay rate fluctuates.
1986 - $28,001.62, $11.60/$11.35/x,
our.
r. As a management employee, Timothy Cottle's rite of pay
is affected by wage increases of administrave and
management personnel and by year -end bonuses.
4. The Southwestern Water Authority Board meeting minutes
reflect the following in regard to the hiring of your sons and
s 'ting of salaries:
a. April 1, 1982 - motion was made to hire the following
boys for summer work at a rate of $3.50 /hour:
Rumancik, Sahady, Devecka, Zeglen, Kurtyka, Schifko,
Sommers, Elliott, Confortini, Davis, Cottle (Eric),
Faddis (William), and Korcheck. The motion was
unanimously adopted, the following members were
present: Parker, Tekavec, Harvey, Barno, Cottle,
Yourcheck, Palone.
-�. April 7, 1983 - motion was made to hire the following
persons for summer help,at a rate of $3.50 /hour:
Broadwater, Cottle (Eric), Davis, Devecka, Elliott,
Faddis (William), Korcheck, Kurtya, Sahady, Sommers,
Tekavec (Scott), Yod`rs, Zeglen, Dean.
The motion was unanimously adopted with the following
members present: Parker, Tekavec, Harvey, Barno,
Yourcheck, Palone, Cottle.
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 3
c. March 1, 1984 - motion made to approve Timothy Cottle
for physical and to authorize Simatic to place Cottle
as a temporary employee after receiving a favorable
report from the Doctor, with his wage was set at $7.00
per hour.
The motion was unanimously adopted with the following
members present: Parker, Tekavec, Harvey, Cottle,
Barno, Faddis, Palone.
d. April 10, 1984 - motion made for recommendation of the
following men to be hired for the summer provided they
present proof of matriculation or attendance at a
college or university: Bates, Block, Broadwater, Eric
Cottle, Elliott, Tim Faddis, William Faddis, Haney
Mosier, Rumancik, Sahady, Scott Tekavec, Virgin,
Yoders. At a rate of $3.50 /hour.
The motion was unanimously adopted with the following
members present: Parker, Tekavec, Cottle, Barno,
Harvey, Palone.
e. March 7, 1985 - motion made that Timothy Cottle be
assigned to the main office as an Assistant, to be
effective March 4, 1985, at a salary of
$ /year.
The motion was unanimously adopted with the following
members present: Parker, Tekavec, Cottle, Barno,
Harvey, Palone, and Faddis.
5. Minutes. -of the authority meetings and board members further
disclose that in 1985, considerations were given to changing the
salary structures for management personnel. Minutes confirm the
following :,
a. June 6, 1985 - Chairman Parker appoints Harvey and
Tekavec to a committee to review the manager's
suggested increases in administrative and secretarial
salaries.
(Note: this would directly affect the salary of your
son, Timothy).
b. July 10, 1985 - Motion is made by you and seconded by
Faddis to adopt the management salary recommendations,
and that Simatic be granted a $2,600.00 raise for each
year for the next two years, and that Shelly Gmutza
receive an additional $500.00 over and above that which
Mr. '"orresst Cottle
rage 4
N, recommended by the management c.
rrcomme"ndations.
The above recommendations allowed fo tLe following
¢.salary adjustments for Timothy Cottl,
Base salary: $20,800.00.
Proposed increase: $4,620.00.
New salary: $25,420.00.
Voting for the motion: Cottle and Faddis. Voting
against the motion: Palone, Tekavec, Barra and P rker.
Motion denied.
c. Au;ust 1, 1985 - After discussion, a motion is made by
Harvey and seconded by Barno to adopt the salary
schedule contained in the report of the salary
committee as shown in Exhibit "A."
The new salary recommendations allowed for the
same salary adjustments for Timothy Cottle as
proposed in the July recommendations.
Voting for the motion: Barno, Harvey, Palone:, Parker
Voting against the motion: Faddis.•
Abstaining: Cottle.
d. December 5, 1985 - After considerable discussion
concerning the extraordinary efforts of the management
-, rsonnel of the authority. throughout 1985, and those
'fforts related to the flood emergency, it was resolved
to pay an additional month's salary by way of a bonus
to the management personnel for the aor oment;.oned
services.
(1) The amount of bonus that Timothy Cottle
received as a result of the above motion:
$2,118.34.
The motion was unanimously adopted with the following
members present: Parker, Barno, Faddis, Harvey and
Palone.
e, December 4, 1986 - motion made for the following
supervisory personnel to receive an extra month's
salary in the form of a'bonus: Bartoletti, Belan,
Buskirk, Coneybeer, Tim Cottle, Gacek, Holupka,
Simatic.
The following members voted in favor of the motion:
Parkr'r, Barno, Faddis, Hannigan, Palone, Harvey.
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 5
6. As a result of Chairman Parker's appointment at the June 6,
1985 meeting of a committee to review administrative salaries,
(refer to finding 5(a)) a committee meeting was scheduled before
the next authority meeting of July 10, 1985.
7. Interviews with authority members Tekavec, Harvey and Parker,
and Authority Manager Simatic, confirmed the following regarding
the committee and meetings:
a.
Prior to the motion, the minutes reflect that Cottle
departed for the expressly stated purpose of not taking
part in any discussions concerning the grant of payment
to supervisory personnel.
The minutes also reflect that member Cottle was absent
and, therefore, did not vote.
When committees are formed, usually only the chairman
and the committee members attend and participate in the
discussions.
b. The meeting occurred sometime in June, 1985. In
attendance were you, board members Faddis, Tekavec,
Harvey and Joseph Simatic. No minutes of that meeting
were kept.
c. Chairman Parker did not attend this meeting.
d. Tekavec, Harvey and Simatic agreed that you and Faddis
participated in the discussions regarding the salaries
of all non -union personnel. This was considered
urlusua l .
e. The salary discussions would have affected any
increases for your son.
8. Minutes of the Southwestern Water Authority Board meetings
also disclosed the following:
a. May 6, 1982 - discussion to eliminate overtime at the
plant.
b. November 3, 1983 - upon-the manager's recommendation, a
motion was made and unanimously adopted for management
personnel to be paid a one month bonus for overtime
worked.
c. November 1, 1984 - a motion was made to pay a month's
salary for overtime to Bartoletti, Belan, Buskirk,
Holupka, Coneybeer, Gacek and Simatic.
11„
Mr. Forre ;t �uttie
Nnve7:ber 7, 1985 - Chairman inforL0•d John HavA gan tha'.
''ursuant to the Pennsylvania Municipal Authority Act o
P.L. 382, amended by Act No. 7, `.978, Mr H�.rrnicc:n
YES not able to be seated as a member of the bL,=.rd
Until after the Jefferson Township organizationa'.
meeting to be held in January of 1986. It if noted
that the term of Joseph Tekavec extends to D■ . be: 31
185.
Joseph Tekavec was appointed to the Southwestern Water
:'.athority by the Jefferson Township Supervisors. He served three
five-year terms. He was not reappointed to the authority by the
:efferson Township Supervisors when his term expired at the end
of December, 1985.
10. Minutes of the Jefferson Township Supervisors disclose the
following regarding Tekavec's replacement.
a. July 25, 1985 - White made a motion to appoint John
Hannigan to Water Board in October when Mr. Tekavec's
term expires. Bane seconded, Mitchell disagreed at
this time.
October 10, 1985 - White made a motion to re -a
appointment of John Hannigan to the water board. Bz
seconded the motion, Mitchell disagreed. By unanimous
decision, Hannigan was appointed to the w` board.
(1) White stated that he had heard from former
Supervisor Dick Faddis that Tekavec had
called him about a year ago ar.d told him
that if they could find someone else for his
position, it would be alright with him.
(2) White stated that when Tekavec came to the
July meeting to request a re appointtlient, he
was already committed to Hannigan.
(3) White stated that the July vote to appoint
Hannigan was a mistake.
Joseph Tekavec advised as follows:
He was appointed to the Southwestern Water Authority by
the Jefferson Township Supervisors.
b. !ie served on the board for approximately (15) years.
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 7
c. In June, 1985, he was appointed to serve on a committee
to adjust the wages of authority employees. Also
appointed was Albert Harvey.
d. Standard practice of the authority was that only
appointed committee members attend and participate in
committee meetings.
e. A committee meeting was scheduled for mid -June, 1985.
You and Faddis attended and attempted to dominate the
meeting and encourage large salary increases.
f. At the next regular meeting of the authority, the
salary increments were defeated.
Another committee meeting was scheduled for July 24,
1985. Salaries again were discussed, but increments as
advocated by you and Faddis were defeated.
h. On July 25, 1985, you met with Township Supervisor,
Charles Mitchell and authority member Art Palone who
informed that you and Faddis went to the township shed
to complain to the supervisor about his (Tekavec's)
vote to eliminate bonuses.
g.
i. Township Supervisor, Bill White, previously stated that
he did not like what Tekavec did regarding the vote to
eliminate bonuses.
j•
He believes he was removed, because of this, to
eliminate bonuses which affected the sons of Cottle and
Faddis.
12. Ben Parker, Southwestern Water Authority Chairman for
approximately ten years, advised as follows:
a. He has served on the authority since 1953 and has been
appointed by Jefferson Borough Council.
b. Prior to June, 1985, management personnel were paid
bonuses for overtime hours. All bonuses were the same
except the manager who received more.
c. The overtime policy was'done away with several years
ago after salaries increased.
d. In 1985, a committee was appointed to work out a wage
recommendation. The committee was comprised of Harvey
and Tekavec. The meeting was held when Parker was out
of town. When he returned, he learned that Cottle and
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 8
Faddis had attendee the committee meet n , As long as
h- can remember, only the board chairman and the
clmmittee members could contribute. Crtlle and Faddis
took over the meeting because they waned to r. ve
u('tlandish raises.
e. At the second committee meeting, they set the
secretarial and management wage increa =cs, v:' ich
included Tim Cottle's salary. The plaF was "fir Cottle
and Coneybeer to be at the same salary; the tw- foremen
the same; the chief bookkeeper at another salary; ..nd
the manager at the highest salary. Cottla's i,
brought him closer to Coneybeers.
f. Cottle wasn't just after getting his son a raise., what
he wanted was to give everybody a big raise to balance
the salaries. Mr. Parker opined that the benefit to
Cottle's son was an indirect consequence.
At the second meeting that he attended, Faddis declared
to the board that he wanted to know when his sjr, was
going to be hired on the Authority. He was thc only
one who ever asked to have his son hired.
g-
13. Jel'ferson Township Supervisor, William White, provide; the
following information:
a. He has served as a township supervisor for
approximately sixteen years.
U. Appointments to the authority are made by oropo r :ing a
representative from the various precincts in t.le
township.
Regarding Tekavec's appointment, Tekavec called Dick
Faddis the year before (1984) and asked if he could get
someone else for his position on the water authority
board. They started checking into getting someone
else. Tekavec was replaced by Hannigan. Jest before
the July meeting, Tekavec expressed his desire to
remain on the Board.
d. The July 25, 1985 Supervisors' meeting was a mistake.
He thought they could re appoint or remove someone from
the board three months before the end of the term. He
doesn't recall Cottle and Faddis coming down to the
township building and talking about the pay raises at
the authority.
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 9
e. John Hannigan asked to be put on the board. He told
Palone and Tekavec that Hannigan and someone else had
asked to be considered for a position on the board.
Tekavec never asked to retain his position until that
night at the supervisors' meeting. At that point, he
had already told Hannigan that he would vote for him.
f. When asked why he did not consider Tekavec when he
asked to remain on the Authority Board, he stated that
he was already obligated to Hannigan. He stated that
he and Clay Faddis already decided that Palone would be
replaced, and who would replace him. Palone's term was
up at the end of 1987. They had already talked with
someone and told him that his name would be brought up
and promised that person the job.
g He never told any of the board members how to voted,
that he never suggested to Tekavec how to vote. A lot
of people came to him to try to get their sons jobs on
the authority.
h. He stated that Cottle did bring the minutes to the
Supervisors. He wrote them down and then brought them
to the supervisors. White stated that he never asked
for them, he doesn't care how they run the authority as
long as they follow the rules and regulations.
i. He never sees Cottle, except at the school where he is
employed, and he is the township auditor.
14. Carl Bane, Jefferson Township Supervisor from 1974 through
1983, advised as follows:
a. He thought Hannigan would be a good man to serve on the
authority. He did not know Tekavec, he never attended
a'ny of the authority meetings.
b. Neither Cottle nor Faddis ever talked to him about
removing Tekavec from the authority or how Tekavec was
voting.
15. Charles Mitchell, a Jefferson Township Supervisor from 1902
through 1987, advised as follows:.
a. In regard to the removal of water authority board
member Joseph Tekavec, he supported Tekavec until the
final vote. As far as he was concerned the vote taken
in July of 1985 to remove Tekavec was just to show
Tekavec that he was not going to be reappointed. The
reason that the supervisors wanted to remove Tekavec
Mr. Forrct.t Cottle
Page 10
from the water inth rity board wz: to g::t a "
y�� man
of t .e authority.
b. The point with Cottle and Faddis was not tc give
raises, but to give bonuses. He knows for a fact that
one employee had 700 -800 hours of overtime, but he did
not get paid for overtime. He looked at it as
overtime; not that Cottle and Faddis were trying to
influence the Board. He changed his mind about Tekavec
bec 3u. ,3e he could no longer talk to him. HF' f rst voted
times to retain Tekavec, and the third time changed
__s vote.
At one time he talked to Tekavec and asked him if he
would change his vote, and Tekavec told him that it was
not etched in stone.
d. Faddis comes around the township building
occasionally, Cottle almost never. At one time the
supervisors were getting the minutes of the authority
meetings and they knew what was going on.
e. His main reason for changing his vote for Tekavec, was
because Parker was playing dictator and he rest that
the authority should operate as a unit, without having
one -man control. He said there was no discussion at
the meetings about Parker or Tekavec.
f. Faddis came down and told the supervisors about the
lopsided vote. Mitchell felt that even if they didn't
get a raise they should get a bonus.
17. While in the presence of your attorney, you provided the
- �ollowing information to the State Ethics Commission:
a. You never voted to hire, or promote your son, or for a
raise for your son. You stated that for whatever
reason, the minutes do not reflect that you abstained.
b. Chairman Parker made sure that they didn't vote '.f any
one board member's son or relative was involved in the
motion that was being made.
c. You had no reason for why you failed to amend any of
the above listed minutes if they were inaccurate in the
recording of your vote or abstention. The minutes
stated that the prior meeting minutes are sent to each
board member for review, and at that next meeting are
approved "as is."
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 11
•
d. At the June, 1985. board meeting, a wage committee was
set up to establish wage recommendations for
administrative and secretarial personnel, from those
drawn up by Manager Simatic, to be presented at the
next board meeting.
e. You and Faddis separately requested that Simatic
inform you of the time and place of the committee
meeting.
f.
g.
You and Faddis separately attended the committee
meeting with the appointed members present, Tekavec,
and Harvey and Simatic.
You and Faddis actively participated in the discussion
of wage recommendations, which directly affected your
son Timothy's salary.
h. You attended the committee meeting because you
felt there was a great inequity between the
Secretaries' salaries and that Simatic's salary was not
what it should be.
i. You stated that you did not discuss your son's raise at
the meeting.
You left the committee meeting with the impression that
everyone had agreed upon the recommendations.
You only made the motion for the wage- recommendations
after it was evident that the committee members were
not going to.
1 . You first asked if you could vote separatel
your son. Parker informed you that y� excluding
y
knew that motion would be defeated when ould n. You
you made e it.
m. Parker then presented a proposal which included raises,
but would discontinue year -end bonuses.
n. You insist that you never discussed Tekavec with the
supervisors, nor did you go down to the township
building after the July board meeting and complain to
the supervisors about the wage proposal vote.
o. The supervisors were not happy with the people an the
board in 1984.
p. You had nothing to do with the amount of the raise that
your son received. It was part of the wage increase
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 12
formula, which was intended to align the salaries of
ce fain groups of personnel.
q Thu only reason you voted for the wage proposal in 1985
was to make sure that the manager's raise was approved.
If you would have been assured that it would have been
approved, you would not have voted.
r. You were totally surprised to hear that Tekavec had
been replaced.
B. Discussion: As a member of the Southwestern Water Authority,
you arn a "public official" as that term is defined in the Ethics
Act. E65 P.S. §402; 51 Pa. Code §1.1; Dodaro, Order Nor 590 -R.
As such, your conduct is subject to the provisions of the Ethics
Act.
Section 3(a) of the Ethics Act provides:
Section 3. Restricted Activities.
(a) No public official or public employee shall
use his public office or any confidential
information received through his holding public
office to obtain financial gain other than
compensation provided by law for himself, a member
of his immediate family, or a business with which
he is associated. 65 P.S. 403(a).
Section 3(a) basically provides that a public official may
nu': use his public office or confidential information to obtain
financial gain other than compensation as provided for by law for
himc7 or a member of his immediate family. Under this
1 this Commission has determined that the use of office
by a public official to obtain a gain or benefit for himself or r
member of h'is immediate family which is not provided for in :aw
constitutes a "financial gain other than compensation provided
for by law." These determinations have been appealed to the
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania which has affirmed the Orders
of the Commission. See McCutcheon v. State Ethics Commission, 77
Pa. Commw. 529 466 A.2d 283 (1983). See also Yocabet v. State
Ethics Commission, Pa. Commw. , 531 A.2d 536 (1987).
Thus, under this provision, a public official may not use his.
public position to secure any financial gain for himself or a
member of his immediate family unless it is provided for by law.
7omalakes, Opinion 85 -010; Huff, Opinion, 84 -015.
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Page 13
Section 2. Definitions.
"Immediate family." A spouse residing in the
person's household and minor dependent
children. 65 P.S. 5402.
Since immediate family is defined to only include a spouse
or minor dependent child, the provision of Section 3(a) would not
include a son who has reached majority. Thus, since your son is
of majority and hence, not included within the Ethics Act
definition of "immediate family," the provisions of Section 3(a)
of the Ethics Act are not implicated.
The facts reflect that in April of 1982, 1983 and 1984, you
voted to hire your adult son for summer help. You also voted in
March of 1984 to appoint your son as temporary
March of 1985, you voted to assign employee. In
assistant. 9 your son to the office as an
You made a motion and voted in July of 1985 as to the
management salary recommendation which affected your son although
you did abstain as to the vote on the adoption of the salary
schedule. Further, you recused yourself as to the December, 1986
vote on bonuses.
As to the termination or non - renewal of Mr. Tekavec, there
is conflicting and contradictory statements as to the motivation
and the reasons for the removal of Mr. Tekavec and his
replacement by Mr. Hannigan. In any event, there is no evidence
under these facts and circumstances to establish that you used
your public office to exert influence as to the removal of the
Southwestern Water Authority member. _
C. Conclusion and Order:
1. As a member of the Southwestern Water Authority, you are a
public,official subject to the provisions of the Ethics Act.
2. There is insufficient evidence to establish that you violated
Section 3(a) of the Ethics Act regarding the removal of another
member of that authority.
Our files in this case will remain confidential in
accordance with Section 8(a) of the Ethics Act, 65 P.S. 408(a).
However, this Order is final and will be made available as a
public document 15 days after service (defined as mailing) unless
you file documentation with the Commission which justifies
reconsideration and /or challenges pertinent factual findings.
See 51 Pa. Code 2.38. During this 15-day
including the respondent unless he waives hisl�ightoto challenge
this Order, may violate this confidentiality by releasing,
discussing or circulating this Order.
Mr. Forrest Cottle
Pace 14
!\ny person who violates the confidentiality of a Commission
:Iroceeding is guilty of a misdemeanor and shah be fined not more
than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than onc_ year or both, see
65 P.S. 409(e).
By the Commission,
G. Sieber P:_:ncoa &t.
Chairman