UNION TOWNSHIP Deadline set in conflict-of-interest issue

The two board members can't agree on a candidate.
BY MARY GRZEBIENIAK
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW CASTLE -- Common Pleas Court Judge Ralph Pratt has given attorneys until Monday to file briefs before he decides whether the Union Township Vacancy Board's chairman has a conflict of interest in naming a new township supervisor.
Union Township Supervisor Steve Galizia has asked the court to prevent Mickey DeLeone from casting the deciding vote to name a replacement for Supervisor Chairman Ralph Nuzzo, who died April 22. DeLeone would be the tiebreaker because the other two members of the vacancy board, Galizia and Supervisor Kevin Guinaugh, have been unable to agree on a candidate.
The dispute arose when DeLeone scheduled the vacancy board meeting while Galizia was out of state. Galizia successfully sought to halt that meeting by a court injunction. Galizia is also seeking a declaratory judgment that DeLeone has a conflict of interest because supervisors appoint the Union Township Sewer Authority Board of Directors -- which employs DeLeone as a sewer maintenance worker.
Pratt heard arguments Monday from Richard Flannery, representing the township, and Joseph Kearney, representing Galizia.
Views of situation
Kearney cited statutes that he said require that DeLeone excuse himself from the supervisor vote due to a conflict of interest. At that point, a vacancy would exist, Kearney said, and added that the other two vacancy board members would then have to ask the court to appoint a replacement for DeLeone.
But Flannery disagreed, pointing out that this situation is common. He said the law provides that a member of a public body who finds himself in a conflict of interest should publicly state the reason and abstain from voting on that matter. If that member is then needed to break a tie, however, he must do so -- even though he is abstaining because of a conflict of interest, Flannery said.
The circumstances surrounding the vacancy board meeting, which DeLeone set for May 29 while Galizia was out of town, were also the subject of much testimony Monday.
DeLeone testified that Galizia was available June 2, only one day during the 15-day period given the vacancy board to hold a meeting and name a new supervisor. DeLeone explained that his understanding was that Galizia was available only at 6 p.m. June 2.
DeLeone, though, said he did not want to cancel a dentist appointment he made two months earlier for 4:30 p.m. that day, and so set the meeting for May 29 even though Galizia could not be there.
Galizia testified he had to be at his Maryland condominium May 29 to meet with contractors about a bathroom remodeling job.
Galizia and DeLeone also testified that they held a phone conversation May 23 about the date the vacancy board would meet. That conversation ended with Galizia's "cussing me out," DeLeone said. Galizia acknowledged that he used profanity in the conversation.