Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Township delays vote on new super
Public questions lack of sign for meeting
WEST WHITELAND » The makeup of the township’s board of supervisors may have flipped on a technicality. A new supervisor to fill a vacancy on the board now will not come until January
According to the two-item meeting agenda, supervisors had planned to fill a vacancy on the board at Friday’s special meeting.
But attorney Matt Morley, a member of the township’s historical commission, interrupted the meeting to ask whether a sign was posted at the township building advertising the special meeting.
“When I walked in, I didn’t see a sign,” Morley said. “Under the open meetings law – the Sunshine Act – the township is required to advertise at the site.”
Most of more than 80 residents applauded boisterously when township Manager Mimi Gleason said the township had not posted a simple sign at the township building.
For the lack of fulfilling that legal requirement, the decision on who will fill the supervisor’s seat will fall to the new board of supervisors decide next year.
“I did make a difference, but this not a one-person thing,” Morley said.
Republican Supervisor Bud
Turner, who was voted out during the November election, was poised to pick a replacement on the three member board for Democratic Supervisor Joe Denham’s seat. Denham resigned Dec. 19.
Turner will be out and the board will change when Democrat Theresa Santalucia, who beat Turner in the November vote, is sworn in on Jan. 2 at the reorganization meeting.
Santalucia now will likely have one of two votes, and help to decide who replaces Denham after supervisors, following a brief executive session, decided to choose a new super during the Jan. 2 reorganization meeting.
Republican Michele Moll was sworn in on Dec. 13 after she was selected by the board to replace Steve Soles, who had resigned from the board.
The board was ready to act just two days after Denham’s resignation was made effective.
Back when the board chose a replacement for Soles, the panel conducted an extensive search and publicly interviewed 11 candidates before filling the vacancy with Republican Moll.
Moll said after the meeting that she was not a “political person.”
Prior to the executive session, Moll pushed the board to meet again Dec. 27, prior to the reorganization meeting and while Turner was still in office.
Moll noted that with two inexperienced members on the board, she needed a new member with some seasoning and experience.
During the meeting, Moll said that she and Santalucia were without “historical knowledge” and needed someone “to advise us.”
“The community wants us to wait until Jan. 2,” Moll said after changing her mind, following the brief executive session.
West Whiteland resident David Mano interrupted the discourse and pointed at the packed meeting room, with more than two dozen people standing.
“You need help in your decision, here’s your help right here,” Mano said.
Turner said after the meeting that Santalucia and Moll had spoken often and “know what to do in the best interests of their residents.”
Turner also said that he had been silent on the selection of a new township supervisor. He said that Santalucia and Moll had worked together to pick a new super.
“Anything decided, was decided by these two ladies,” Turner said.
Township resident Jerry McMullen, during a break in the meeting, said that the public has spoken, and is seeking a transparent government.
“That’s what we want, we want to make sure that the interests of West Whiteland’s citizens are in the forefront, and we worry they are not,” he said.