Board of Supervisors Meeting on Tuesday

Board of Supervisors Meeting on July 20^th at 7:30 pm

Agenda Item:  Public Hearing for the Rezoning of the Schnecksville  Fire

Company Baseball Field from Agricultural/Residential to Planned Commercial

Situation:

Mr. Robert Johnson has offered to swap 52 acres of his land along both sides of Old Packhouse Road for 2.55 acres of land owned by the Schnecksville Fire Company, but only if the Fire Company obtains a zoning change from Agricultural/Residential to Planned Commercial.  Mr. Johnson would like to connect the Fire Company’s land (currently a baseball field) to the acreage he already owns directly in front of the Schnecksville Fire Company.  Combined together, both parcels of land would equal approximately 6 acres of Planned Commercial property.  Mr. Johnson has stated this would be sufficient for 33,000 square feet of commercial development.

Concern:

North Whitehall Township Supervisors Ron Stahley and Ron Heintzelman both hold official positions within the Schnecksville Fire Company.  Mr. Stahley is the Fire Chief and Mr. Heintzelman is a Trustee.  Also, Mr. Heintzelman has family members who hold several official positions within the Fire Company.  If Mr. Stahley and Mr. Heintzelman vote on this deal as currently structured, these two supervisors would be placing themselves in a possible conflict of interest situation.

Alternatives:

First:  The Board of Supervisors (BOS) could decide this deal as structured places two of the Supervisors into a conflict of interest, and therefore a quorum would not exist for voting on rezoning.  If Mr. Johnson wishes to swap land with the Schnecksville Fire Company, he could do so and then come before the BOS at a later date and request to have his land rezoned to Planned Commercial on his own.  Then, neither Supervisor would have a conflict of interest.

Second:  If the BOS wishes to vote on the rezoning/land swap deal as structured, then they should make a request for an “Advisory Opinion” from the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission before doing so.  This land swap deal places Mr. Stahley and Mr. Heintzelman on some very thin ice with regards to ethics, and they should obtain approval from the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission before proceeding with a vote.  The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission has a website and the process looks quite simple to obtain an Advisory Opinion.  Here is the link to their webpage that explains how to make a request for an Advisory Opinion:

http://www.ethics.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/advisories/11219

What can you do?

Please plan to attend this next BOS meeting and let your voice be heard.  We should all expect our elected officials to conduct themselves in a manner that never brings their ethics into question.  If Mr. Stahley and Mr. Heintzelman choose to vote on this deal as currently structured without the approval of the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission, then both men will have brought their ethics into serious question.  NW4SD feels Mr. Johnson is asking Mr. Stahley and Mr. Heintzelman to put their ethics on the line in order to obtain his objective.  That’s just not right.  We hope you feel the same.

Please note NW4SD has a new email address:  nw4sd@verizon.net