Milesburg appoints new council members after string of resignations. Was the meeting legal?

An embattled Milesburg Borough Council held a meeting Monday night to appoint three new council members after a series of resignations, but questions have been raised about the legality of the meeting.

Bryce Taylor, a Milesburg resident who questioned the legality of a meeting held with the three remaining council members present — there are seven seats on the board — was asked to leave the meeting under the threat of removal by state police, who were on site.

“Do you not need a quorum in order to conduct this meeting?” Taylor asked council members. “With all due respect, given that the borough council is comprised of seven members and there are only three present to begin with, holding this meeting would go against the Sunshine Act.”

After a brief but heated conversation between Taylor, council member Fred Kellerman and mayor Clair Martin, Taylor left, shouting that the meeting was “improper” as he walked out the door.

“He was interrupting my meeting with those questions, so we had him leave,” Kellerman told the CDT after the meeting.

When the meeting resumed, Kellerman and fellow council members Ethel Kellerman and Plummer Davidson voted to accept the official resignations of former council members Greg Ritter, Pete DeLosa and Samantha Walker.

The resignation of the majority of council members — Sandy Dieterle resigned in February, Walker resigned last month and Ritter and DeLosa resigned last week — comes after most of the borough’s staff abruptly resigned at the start of the year.

Council members also appointed and swore in three new council members on Monday night — Barry Campbell, Jr., Shirley Martin and Kirsty Lloyd. The fourth open seat is to be filled by the vacancy board, which recently saw its president resign as well. That seat was not filled by the council members in the allotted 45-day period they were given, which is why it was deferred to the board.

Pennsylvania law does not require boards or councils to take public input during the process of filling vacancies, nor does it direct them to screen or ultimately choose interested candidates in a certain way.

After the meeting, borough solicitor Tracey Benson justified the meeting being held because the only three active members of the board were present.

When asked about a potential Sunshine Act violation, Benson referred to the earlier incident with Taylor, saying that, “If this becomes a legal issue, we’ll just deal with it when it does.”

Is what Milesburg Borough did legal?

According to Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Council for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, of which the CDT is a member, Benson may be correct in his justification for holding the meeting.

“Given that there was only three of the potential seven members there, on the surface this does look like a violation,” Melewsky said. “However, given that the other board members had already turned in their official resignations, the meeting still could’ve happened with all of the active members being present there.”

Even though the resignations of Ritter, DeLosa and Walker weren’t officially accepted, they had already displayed their intent, and took the first steps to remove themselves from their council positions, meaning that according to the Pennsylvania borough code, a quorum could still be held, Melewsky said.

That specific code states that, “A majority of the membership of council then in office shall constitute a quorum.”

The Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, which Melewsky said may have a different interpretation, did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.

However, removing a borough resident for asking questions during a meeting is not legal, Melewsky said.

Taylor still believes the meeting was a violation of the Sunshine Act and is looking to take action.

“One of the first steps that I’m going to likely take is to get a petition going so that we can challenge the appointments made at the meeting,” he said Tuesday. “I have a right and responsibility as a citizen of this borough to not only ask questions at the public meetings, but to also call out something that is not legal. I’ll happily do whatever I can to make it known that what’s going on here is not right.”

Taylor previously addressed the Centre County Commissioners to ask for help with the ongoing issues in the borough. On Tuesday, Commissioner Mark Higgins said the county is limited in what it can do.

“The commissioners have looked into it and have found that there is a group within the Department of Community and Economic Development that offers mediation to municipalities in this circumstance,” Higgins said. “The one difficulty though is that it’s a voluntary program. Whatever would be the remainder of the board in Milesburg Borough would all need to agree to utilize the program.”

The Milesburg Borough Council’s next meeting is at 6:30 p.m. on April 18 and is scheduled to be a both special meeting and vacancy board meeting to determine the council member to fill the final open seat.