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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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