There was controversy between Councilman Joe DeVito and Mayor Richard Onderko when Resolution #2024-210 for appointing a part-time tax collector was on the agenda November 12th.

From the commentary on the dais, the part-time tax collector was resigning and would be replaced with a new part-time tax collector that was in the Resolution on the agenda. The new tax collector would start immediately, on Wednesday November 13th.

Councilman DeVito's issue with this was the hiring never went to the finance committee. Mayor Onderko and Acting Administrator Dillingham attempted to justify the action. Ms. Dillingham said that the contract the current tax collector has will be the same exact contract for the new one.

It was implied that the pay rate would remain the same, and nothing is changing other than the person, so there is no impact to the Borough's finances as a result of this hiring.

Councilman DeVito did not agree with this justification. When Mayor Onderko was ready to take a roll call vote on Resolutions, Councilman DeVito interjected again about the impact to borough finances. Ms. Dillingham reiterated "it's the same exact contract".

Councilman DeVito asked if would be acceptable to make a phone call during the meeting. He wanted to call Michael Pitts, the Borough's Chief Financial Officer. He was told "I don't see a need for that, Joe." by Mayor Onderko.

Councilman DeVito was clearly frustrated, and the Resolution was then to be voted on separately.

There were periods of awkward silence during this exchange. If further discussion was needed, there should have been a motion to move into closed session.

Councilman Joe DeVito and Council President Ron Skirkanish would vote no on the hiring of the part-time tax collector.

This does bring up some very important concerns. How come the finance committee was circumvented on the hiring? Even if the new hire was simply a replacement for the person resigning, it should still pass through the finance committee.

Is the Mayor & Council bypassing other committees for other things? If they did it this time, it would not be surprising to hear of other actions like this occurring.