Township manager leaves job, cites interference

Cronyism also listed as reason

North Huntingdon manager John Shepherd is leaving his job, citing an unnamed township commissioner’s interference in a North Huntingdon zoning investigation as one reason for his departure.

In an email to the commissioners dated May 12, Mr. Shepherd described new criminal charges filed against Dean Vezzani of North Huntingdon and an earlier zoning investigation into Mr. Vezzani that was temporarily derailed when a commissioner told the township code enforcement officer to stop his investigation.

“There is a story in the newspaper … about a North Huntingdon resident [Dean Vezzani] who has been arrested for bilking customers of $56,000,” Mr. Shepherd wrote in the email.

“This is the same person that was being investigated by the township’s planning department for a zoning violation [involving a home business] and was called by a current commissioner and told to not pursue the matter any further,” Mr. Shepherd wrote. “Additional questions [on] why I am leaving?”

Last week, Mr. Shepherd said nothing was done on the matter for a while, and then officials told township code enforcement officer Josh Andrykovitch “to file his citations.”

Mr. Andrykovitch said he filed a citation against Mr. Vezzani of Maple Lane for operating a body shop business without adequate fire protections, ventilation or a painting booth.

Mr. Vezzani paid the fines related to the matter March 22, he said.

Mr. Vezzani was later arrested and charged with theft by deception, theft from a motor vehicle and deceptive business practices in connection with accusations that he took money, vehicles in exchange for payment, and parts for body work that he never performed.

Mr. Shepherd said the unnamed commissioner’s order to stop the earlier zoning investigation was “inappropriate interference.”

He said he also has been unhappy with what he sees as cronyism and attempts by some of the new majority commissioners to hire their friends.

At the commissioners’ May 17 meeting, a number of people associated with North Huntingdon spoke of their working relationships with Mr. Shepherd and how they will miss him.

Township solicitor Bruce Dice said during his 45 years of practicing municipal law, he has seen hundreds of managers and of all of them, Mr. Shepherd is the best.

Mr. Shepherd said that before he was hired in 1998, North Huntingdon was a very political place and people were hired because someone knew them instead of for their qualifications.

When the commissioners decided to hire people for their qualifications instead, they “put North Huntingdon in the right mold,” Mr. Shepherd said.

“I think the organization needs to be professional and not political, so I hope it continues to be that way,” he said.

After his remarks, Mr. Shepherd received a standing ovation from the commissioners and audience.