{"id":3283,"date":"2012-04-18T09:08:39","date_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3283"},"modified":"2012-04-18T09:09:57","modified_gmt":"2012-04-18T13:09:57","slug":"right-to-know-dispute-still-rages-in-kennett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3283","title":{"rendered":"Right to Know dispute still rages in Kennett"},"content":{"rendered":"

The legal battle between Stevens and supervisors colleagues over the right to view records continues<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, <\/strong>Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Stevens claimed that his right to view financial documents as a supervisor is being suppressed by the Township.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT \u2014 During Monday night\u2019s Board of Supervisor\u2019s meeting, old issues stemming from the release of the 2009-2010 audits and the financial documents linked to them were brought back into the public light.<\/p>\n

Midway through the meeting, Supervisor Scudder Stevens made a motion to amend a policy that prevents supervisors from viewing human resources data including information relating to employee benefits and compensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn December of 2011 the then Board of Supervisors amended the Records Security Policy by providing that not even members of the then Board of Supervisors are permitted to access personal information\/human resources,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe this extraordinary step was taken solely to preclude my access to township records.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stevens claimed that the matter is scheduled for trial in Mid-May of 2012 and has thus far cost the Township roughly $100,000 in legal fees. Stevens attested that as a supervisor he has the right to view all financial documents \u2014 including those containing employee information such as Social Security numbers \u2014 stating that he \u201cas a duly elected supervisor has the right and duty to oversee the financial activities of [Kennett] Township.\u201d<\/p>\n

The motion to amend the policy was voted down, not seconded by the other two supervisors. As it stands, Lisa Moore \u2014 the Township\u2019s Manager, Secretary, and Treasurer \u2014 is the only individual with the ability to view financial documents containing employee information in their entirety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the supervisors have access, the problem is per the Civil Rights law,\u201d she said. \u201cI cannot give out the personal identifying information of our employees to anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several questions arose from various township citizens, the most commonly asked: if the township supervisors act as employers to township employees, why are they unable to access the documents in question, even if the sensitive information is redacted?<\/p>\n

Moore suggested that the township consult a Right to Know specialist stating \u201cI\u2019m not an attorney; I\u2019m just following the law. How about we get our township attorney to explain it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not looking to find out somebody\u2019s personal information,\u201d Stevens said, \u201cI want to see what\u2019s going on financially. This township has been through tremendous difficulty in the past six months and we now are getting three audits done to make sure that things are done correctly. Why? Because the supervisors have not looked at this stuff in a proper fashion\u2026that\u2019s my responsibility, and if something turns out wrong on my watch, I\u2019m personally liable. If I\u2019m personally liable, why can\u2019t I see it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Chairman Michael Elling responded to Stevens' allegations, claiming that supervisors can already view pertinent records<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cLet me make this clear,\u201d Chairman Michael Elling stated to the attendees, \u201cIf Lisa had acquiesced to Scudder\u2019s request for that information she would have been doing an illegal act and she could have easily been fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supervisor Bob Hammaker stated that prior to the December 2011 amendment, the Records Policy was operated in the same fashion, with the amendment acting only in a clarifying capacity. \u201cThe solicitor reviewed our policy and said there was nothing wrong with it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has absolutely nothing to do with Lisa Moore,\u201d Stevens said referring to the ongoing legal battle and the township\u2019s alleged unwillingness to settle outside of court. \u201cMy motion was very specific. It\u2019s the other two supervisors that are controlling this…I was told that the Board didn\u2019t want to go there [settlement]. That means that the board is getting ready for a day and a half trial in common pleas, even though I said \u2018change the language here and I\u2019ll back away.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Again, Elling responded to Stevens and the public comments stating, \u201cWe three supervisors have unfettered access to financial records and personnel records.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the end of the meeting, the board \u2014 with concentrated input from the public throughout the night \u2014 informally agreed to consult a Right to Know specialist to expedite the closure of the dispute.<\/p>\n

NOTE: The second edition of coverage concerning Monday night\u2019s Board of Supervisors meeting \u2014 specifically the internal dispute surrounding a proposed conservation easement \u2014 will appear in an additional article shortly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legal battle between Stevens and supervisors colleagues over the right to view records continues By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com KENNETT \u2014 During Monday night\u2019s Board of Supervisor\u2019s meeting, old issues stemming from the release of the 2009-2010 audits and the financial documents linked to them were brought back into the public light. Midway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[183,36,441,271],"class_list":["post-3283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-board-of-supervisors","tag-kennett-township","tag-litigation","tag-right-to-know"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}