Ziegler resignation accepted
Interested candidates for the position are asked to apply
DOUGLASS (MONT.) >> A vote by the board of supervisors Monday night made it official.
The resignation of Fred Ziegler, until last week the board’s vice chairman, was accepted without comment by the two remaining supervisors, Anthony Kuklinski and Alan Keiser.
It closes the chapter on a trial that took more than two years to resolve from the day Ziegler, 63, was charged in 2014 until last week when he pleaded guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of unsworn falsification related to a subpoena he handed to Boyertown Police Chief Barry Leatherman that matched no legal case in court.
Ziegler’s resignation, and the agreement that he never seek public office again, was part of the plea agreement that ended the case in which Ziegler was being tried on charges of charges of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, forgery, tampering with public records, unsworn falsification to authorities, intimidation and retaliation against witnesses and conflict of interest in connection with alleged incidents that occurred between August 2012 and December 2014.
With the plea, all allegations of theft or fraud were dismissed, leaving only the charge that he knowingly handed over a false subpoena to obtain information about the theft charges against him.
Ziegler retired in 2004 after 30 years with the township’s police department, the last 12 years as its chief, before becoming a township supervisor.
Because Ziegler had also spent time working for the Montgomery County District Attorney’s office, when the allegations of theft of a chain saw, plywood and using the township’s gas card were levied, the case had to be investi-
gated and tried by the state attorney general’s office.
The trial dates were repeatedly delayed by procedure and illness by both Ziegler and his attorney and even in the midst of the trial earlier this month, when Judge Gary S. Silow, who was conducting the bench trial, noticed that Ziegler seemed to have taken ill.
According to Township Manager Peter Hiryak, the supervisors opted not to immediately name a replacement to fill out Ziegler’s term.
State law gives than 30 days and the supervisors have asked all who are interested in filling the post to send resumes to the township.
Interviews will be conducted early next year.