Halfmoon supervisors re-vote for new hires after ‘a bit of a mess up’ in its original vote
After a conflict of interest came to light, the Halfmoon Township board of supervisors on Thursday rescinded a vote taken at a previous meeting, though questions about potential nepotism and Sunshine Act violations remain.
The board unanimously approved the hiring of Derrick Reese, Charles L. Beck and Daniel Truax as laborers in the township’s public works department on May 26. It would be a routine motion, except Charles L. Beck is the son of Halfmoon Township Supervisor Charles F. Beck.
“We had a bit of a mess up at the last meeting regarding the hiring of employees,” Chair David Piper said during Thursday’s meeting.
“At the May 26 meeting there was an administrative oversight and a motion was mistakenly made to approve the hiring of two full-time public works laborers and one part-time seasonal laborer. It was an oversight with Mr. Beck voting on the motion. The hiring of these employees should have been done as separate motions so that Mr. Beck could abstain from the hiring of Mr. Charles Beck.”
The board unanimously rescinded the motion and again voted individually to hire Reese, Truax and Charles L. Beck. Supervisor Beck abstained from the motion to hire his son.
Through a Right to Know request, the Centre Daily Times obtained the township’s personnel manual. Within that includes a nepotism policy, which in part states: “Close relatives, partners, those in a dating relationship or members of the same household are not permitted to be in positions that have a reporting responsibility to each other.” The township’s definition of close relatives includes sons and daughters.
During an April meeting, the board approved Supervisor Beck to oversee the activities of the public works crew, and to keep track of their work and hours.
It’s unclear if the hiring of a sitting supervisor’s son is in conflict with the township’s nepotism policy, which states “Halfmoon Township wants to ensure that township practices do not create situations such as conflict of interest or favoritism based on employment of relatives.”
Neither the board of supervisors nor the township’s solicitor, Zachary Rice of Salzmann Hughes, have responded to questions from the Centre Daily Times regarding the potential conflict.
Former township supervisor Bob Strouse, who resigned at the end of the May 26 meeting, told the CDT in an email he voted in favor of hiring “the younger Beck” because the township “has work to do and I didn’t want to appear as if I were obstructing in my last meeting.” The board has come under fire in recent months for transparency concerns and staff turnover.
“Knowing I was stepping down, I figured the potential nepotism issue the board majority was walking into would be their problem, as they would’ve hired him even if I voted no,” Strouse wrote. “In private, I voiced my concern to every member of the board about hiring a supervisor’s adult child to an open position, but my concerns were dismissed.”
He also said he wasn’t aware that the township had a policy prohibiting nepotism, but was concerned about Supervisor Beck’s recent appointment to “interim roadmaster.”
“But I also didn’t consider the angle that currently, Supervisor Beck serving as ‘interim roadmaster’ makes his son a direct report, and the personnel manual does indeed prohibit that,” Strouse wrote.
The policy states “any exceptions to this policy must be approved by the manager,” but the township has been without a manager since March.
Potential Sunshine Act violation
Another issue that the current supervisors and the solicitor aren’t commenting on is when the hiring of these individuals took place.
During the May 26 meeting, before taking official action on the hiring, Piper said: “We had a executive meeting and we decided to hire two full-time employees for the road crew and one part time employee for the road crew.”
Through a Right to Know request, the Centre Daily Times obtained a list of all township employees and their hire dates. The hire date listed for Charles L. Beck is May 20 and for Truax is May 13, both well before the board voted in public to hire them. Reese’s hire date is listed as May 31.
The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, among other things, requires agencies to deliberate and take official action on agency business in an open and public meeting. Executive sessions are permitted for a number of reasons, including to discuss any matter involving employment. But official action is still required to be taken in a public meeting.
The board and the solicitor have not responded to inquiries from the CDT about this issue. It’s unclear if the board took action to hire these employees outside of a public meeting and why some hire dates are before the action took place.
Strouse said: “If I were chair, I’d have avoided a statement like that like it was the plague.”
