Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout707 MeyerMr. Harold Meyer R.D. #3 Harmony, PA 16037 Re: 87 -071 -C STATE ETHICS COMMISSION 308 FINANCE BUILDING HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA 17120 ORDER OF THE COMMISSION Order No. 707 Before: Helena G. Hughes, Chair Robert W. Brown, Vice Chair W. Thomas Andrews G. Sieber Pancoast Dennis C. Harrington James M. Howley Date Decided: June 1, 1989 Date Mailed: June 8, 1989 Dear Mr. Meyer: The State Ethics Commission received a complaint regarding you and a possible violation of the State Ethics Act, No. 170 of 1978, 65 P.S. 401 et. seq. You were notified in writing as to the commencement of the investigation and as to the specific allegation(s). The investigation has now been completed and a Findings Report was issued to you which constituted the Complaint by the Investigation Division of the State Ethics Commission. An Answer was filed and a hearing was waived. The record is now completed. This Order of the Commission is hereby issued which sets forth the individual allegations, findings, discussion and conclusion as follows: I. Allegation: That you, a Lancaster Township Supervisor, 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, when you used your office to obtain and receive compensation for the position of township building inspector. Section 3. Restricted Activities. (a) No public official or public employee shall use his public office or any confidential Harold Meyer Page 2 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. S403(a). A. Findinas 1. You served as a Township Supervisor in Lancaster Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania. a. You served in this position from 1981 to 1987. b. You previously served as a Lancaster Township Auditor as well as Tax Collector. 2. Minutes of the Lancaster Township Board of Supervisors Meetings provide as follows regarding the instant situation: a. January 6, 1986, appointment of zoning officer - Clement Gaydos, motion by Meyer; seconded by Kerr. Building permits will be issued by the secretary. Supervisors present: Harold Meyer, Dennis Kerr, Pflug. b. November 4, 1986, appointment of zoning officer, Gerald McCommons. Motion by Meyer, seconded by Kerr. Supervisors present, Meyer, Kerr, Pflug. c. December 29, 1986, beginning in 1987, zoning permits will be required before a building permit can be issued. Price of permit to be $7 and zoning officer will be paid . $25 for entire procedure from zoning permit to building permit to occupancy permit. Motion by Pflug; seconded by Meyer. Supervisors present: Kerr, Pflug, Meyer. d. January 5, 1987, motion by Pflug to appoint Gerald McCommons as zoning officer, seconded by Kerr. Pflug made a motion to pay him a fee of $25 for each permit. Seconded by Meyer. Supervisors present, Kerr, Pflug, Meyer. e. May 5, 1987, letter of resignation from zoning officer Gerald McCommons, his reason being in light of a letter received from Supervisors Pflug and Meyer telling him to take no further action until further notice with no explanation why. He stated this made it impossible to work for them any longer. Meyer made a motion to accept McCommons' letter of resignation, Pflug seconded it. Harold Meyer Page 3 Motion to appoint William Roberts as Zoning Officer made by Pflug and seconded by Meyer. 3. By way of letter dated April 14, 1987, to Gerald McCommons from Arthur Pflug and Harold Meyer, Township Supervisors, Mr. McCommons is advised that as of the date of the letter his services were no longer required until further notice. 4. Records of Lancaster Township indicate that the following zoning permits were issued by Harold Meyer after the resignation of former zoning inspector Gerald McCommons: PERMIT DATE April 23, 1987 April 28, 1987 April 30, 1987 April 30, 1987 April 21, 1987 ISSUED BY ISSUED TO Harold Meyer Harold Meyer Harold Meyer Harold Meyer Harold Meyer a. You aver that you only issued two April 14, 1987 and May 5, 1987. 5. W -2 Wage and Tax Statements for Harold indicates that the total wages, tips or other to $560.00. Brian Raithel building permits between Meyer for the year 1987 compensation paid amount 6. Records of Lancaster Township indicate that the above referenced compensation was paid in relation to your attendance at township meetings, conferences and /or for conducting the bi- annual road inspections. 7. You were not compensated for issuing zoning permits during the period of time for which the township had no appointed zoning officer. 8. Gerald McCommons provided the following information in relation to the instant situation: a. He served as the zoning officer for Lancaster Township. b. The township supervisors fixed his salary at $25 per permit. c. When he took the position the supervisors advised him that they wanted all of the books and records brought up to date. d. He would turn over reports every month to the supervisors regarding the permits that he would issue. Each supervisor and the township secretary would get a copy of his report. e. He did not charge the township for old permits but they Harold Meyer Page 4 would pay him for such anyway. The supervisors would approve the bills and sign the checks and he assumed that the secretary had determined his pay according to the reports that he had turned in. f. The supervisors never challenged the salary that he was receiving as zoning officer. g. Based upon a letter that he received from Supervisors Meyer and Plfug he had no choice but to resign his position. h. The normal process for issuing a permit would include checking the construction site and issuing a zoning permit before any other permits were issued; having the secretary issue a septic permit; having the secretary issue a driveway and building permit; checking the construction site; and issuing an occupancy permit when the site was finished. i. He was unaware of Mr. Meyer receiving any compensation for serving as zoning officer. 9. You provided the following information in relation to the instant situation: a. You served as Lancaster Township Supervisor for six years from 1981 to 1987. You are currently retired. c. You did act as zoning officer for Lancaster Township from April 14, 1987 through May 5, 1987, while also serving as a township supervisor. d. The supervisors appointed a new zoning officer, Gerald McCommons, in late 1986. At that time the budget for the position of zoning officer was fixed at $600.00 per year. Mr. McCommons salary exceeded this budget during the first two months of his service. The reason that this occurred is because Mr. McCommons was working on prior year permits. As a result, Mr. McCommons was dismissed. e. Mr. McCommons was to have been paid $25 per permit. f. You did not realize that Mr. McCommons was over budgeted for his compensation until April, 1987 because you never received copies of zoning permits that had been issued and, thus, were unaware of the compensation received. (1) You deny that Mr. McCommons was over budgeted and assert that the compensation paid by the Township through April 14, 1987 to Mr. McCommons exceeded Harold Meyer Page 5 the budgeted amount for the 1987 calendar year for Mr. McCommons' services. g. You ordered the township secretary to send a letter to McCommons dismissing him as zoning officer. h. You believed that there was a vote of the township supervisors to dismiss Mr. McCommons but that only two supervisors may have signed it because the third supervisor was probably not at that meeting. i. Mr. McCommons should not have been paid for working on past permits. j. You did not solicit, accept or receive any payments in relation to the zoning permits that you issued for the township. k. There was no vote authorizing you to act as zoning officer, you believed, however, that the township had a duty to issue zoning permits upon request and therefore you performed this function during the interim period when no officer was employed by the township. B. Discussions: As a Township Supervisor in Lancaster you are a "public official" as that term is defined under the Ethics Act. 65 P.S. 402; 51 Pa. Code 51.1. As such, you are subject to the provisions of the Ethics Act and the restrictions therein are applicable to you. Section 3(a) of the Ethics Act quoted above provides in that no public official shall use public office to obtain a financial gain for himself other than compensation provided for by law. In the instant matter the allegation relates to the question as to whether you have used public office to obtain and receive compensation for the position of Township Building Inspector. Factually, it appears that Mr. Gerald McCommons was the appointed Zoning Officer whose duties included in part the issuance of permits. Although Mr. McCommons salary was fixed at $25.00 per issued permit, it appears that a question arose as to whether Mr. McCommons was over compensated relative to working on past permits. As a result a letter dated April 14, 1987 was sent to Mr. McCommons signed by Supervisor Author Pflug and yourself advising that his services were no longer required. Thereafter, in a May 5, 1987 meeting, the letter or resignation of Mr. McCommons was received and a motion was made and seconded to appoint William Roberts as the new Zoning Officer. In the interim, you did issue permits but did not receive any compensation for such duties. The only compensation that you received was that Harold Meyer Page 6 which was authorized relative to your duties as townships supervisor. In light of the foregoing, this Commission finds that you did not violate Section 3(a) of the Ethics Act because you did not obtain any financial gain during the month /period in which you were issuing permits. C. Conclusion and Order 1. As a Lancaster Township Supervisor, you are a public official subject to the provisions of the Ethics Act. 2. You did not violate Section 3(a) of the Ethics Act during the period of time that you issued permits because you received no financial gain for such services. This Order is final and will be made available as a public document fifteen days after issuance. However, you may request reconsideration which will defer public release of this Order pending action on your request by the Commission. A request for reconsideration, however, does not affect the finality of this Order. A reconsideration request must be received at this Commission within fifteen days of issuance and must include a detailed explanation of your reasons as to why reconsideration should be granted in conformity with 51 Pa. Code 52.38. The files in this case will remain confidential in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Ethics Act, 65 P.S. 408(a) during the fifteen day period and no one, including yourself, unless the right to challenge this Order is waived, may violate confidentiality by releasing, discussing or circulating this Order. However, confidentiality does not preclude you from discussing this case with your attorney at law. Any person who violates confidentiality of a Commission proceeding is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $1,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year or both, 65 P.S. 409(e). By the Commission elena G. Hughes Chair