Halfmoon Township supervisors tried to fire the manager last month. Here’s what’s next
The Halfmoon Township Community Center was packed Thursday with residents anxious to hear what would happen two weeks after the board of supervisors attempted to fire the township manager.
In the contentious Feb. 25 meeting, the motion to fire Denise Gembusia failed 3-2, with Chair David Piper and Supervisor Chuck Beck voting in favor. The first item on Thursday’s agenda was an executive session for personnel, as requested by Piper and Vice Chair Ron Servello.
After the executive session, the board voted 3-2 to amend the agenda “for actions regarding the manager.” Piper, Servello and Beck voted yes, supervisors Patti Hartle and Bob Strouse voted no; the same split as the Feb. 25 vote to fire Gembusia.
After hearing an outpouring of support for Gembusia during public comment, the split board later voted to attempt to move toward a resolution with the manager. That includes a “corrective performance process” that’s expected to be 60-90 days, though few details were given about the process.
Hartle suggested they go into third-party mediation; Servello said that could happen if it’s necessary within that time frame.
“If we’re still back to where we were, we can always come back and decide differently,” Servello said.
Piper and Beck voted in opposition to the “corrective performance process.”
Support for Gembusia
About 10 Halfmoon residents spoke in support of Gembusia, some even sporting “We stand with Denise” stickers.
Lorin Nauman, vice chair of the Halfmoon Township Planning Commission, said at first he wasn’t sure about some changes Gembusia made when she started in 2020, but it worked out for the better.
“She made some changes at the beginning when she took over the management position. Some of it I didn’t think was good, because it was different. But different worked out good. She streamlined our review process. … We’re getting the review work done faster, and things are moving, and being tracked the way they should be. And I just ... really appreciate the job she’s doing and I hope everybody else will support her as well,” Nauman said.
Andrew Meehan, chair of the planning commission, said Gembusia has been great to work with. She’s professional and attentive, he said.
Supervisors said they could not discuss specific personnel issues in public. During the Feb. 25 meeting, the only reason Piper provided was that Gembusia is “defiant.”
More than one person questioned if some board members had an issue with a woman manager.
“I wonder if we’re having a problem with the fact that we’ve got a woman who’s a manager. She’s ‘defiant’ is what I read. Defiant. What in the world does that mean?” Barbara Spencer, former township supervisor, said.
Servello said he took offense to that. He said he has worked with and for women for years, and is “always neutral” on sex/gender issues.
Other residents questioned what the plan was if the board fired Gembusia.
“Wait and see,” Beck said.
Sunshine Act concerns
Before the board went into executive session, Gembusia requested that if the point of the session is to discuss her, that it be done in public. She also said she wanted her personnel file to be public.
The township’s solicitor, Zachary Rice, said any employee has the right to ask that their personnel file be discussed or reviewed in public, but he recommended the board discuss it in an executive session, as permitted under the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act.
Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, told the CDT in an email that employees have the right to have the discussion happen at a public meeting pursuant to the Sunshine Act, and that provision in the law is based on the concept — and case law — of due process.
Rice also directed the board not to disclose the file.
“Those are public records of the township that have a legitimate exemption under the Right to Know Law. So, if a citizen were to make a request, there’s an exemption that would apply to the Right to Know Law,” Rice said, adding that the file belongs to the township.
Melewsky disagreed.
“She can’t require the agency to release the file publicly, but she’s entitled to a copy of the file and she can do whatever she wants with those copies, including sharing with the media or the general public,” Melewsky said.
Gembusia would be “well within her rights” to file a Sunshine Act complaint and possibly other causes of action, Melewsky said.
Gembusia’s last performance review was in December 2021. According to documents obtained by the CDT, former Supervisor Danelle Del Corso sent Gembusia a summary review of the board’s feedback on her performance, on behalf of the board, on Dec. 16, 2021. The board ranked her performance consistently at 3 or 4, out of 5, in various areas.
“The board has high trust in your decision making process because you always have the best interest of the township in mind. The board has also witnessed the results of your decision making which has given us great confidence in your judgment,” read one comment.
A resident questioned what could have changed in eight weeks since her last review. Four of the five current supervisors agreed to Gembusia’s review (it was done before Servello took office).
Piper said he has never seen Gembusia’s file and doesn’t know what it contains.
“You’re telling me, you folks are making steps to dismiss our current manager and you have not even reviewed her personnel file? And, if the manager were to request that her personnel file be made public, and you folks decide that it should not be, that, to me, says you are trying to hide something,” Strouse said.
Gembusia declined to comment Friday.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 4:46 PM.
