The Eldred Township board of supervisors will contact the attorney general and the district attorney to investigate whether the previous board did anything criminal by changing the ordinance to allow water extraction in the township.

However, supervisors decided not to pursue civil action, much to the dismay of the residents.The meeting was well-attended Wednesday evening, reminiscent of the Nestle Waters days. Residents arrived prepared to hear the supervisors’ decision on whether or not they were going to pursue legal action against two former supervisors and a former employee.After Vice Chairwoman JoAnn Bush and Supervisor Gary Hoffman read their respective statements, many of those residents looking for action were disappointed and angry.“I am so disappointed with you right now. This board is letting us down,” said Traci Smith. “I can’t believe that you are not doing anything. We have the evidence.”Bush and Hoffman in their statements said they too believed that there was wrongdoing, but that it was time to move on.“I believe that there appears to be evidence in the form of letters and emails, demonstrating that a plan was concocted and acted upon by several individuals who worked in concert with a ‘perfect storm’ of events that ultimately resulted in a scheme to capitalize on a profitable initiative called water extraction,” Hoffman said. “That which surfaced seemed to be under the cover of darkness and developed in the very heart of Eldred Township, in the village of Kunkletown.”In his statement, Hoffman praised the residents for driving Nestle out of Kunkletown.“Let no one stand up and say the battle against the water extraction project was a battle won by any municipal officials,” he said. “Clearly it was not.”In the end Hoffman concluded that the question for the board to answer was whether or not to proceed with a battle that was already won.“Clearly there are residents of Eldred Township who will tell you that they want to continue this battle.”Hoffman and Bush said the township was not in the financial position to proceed with a lawsuit against the former employees and possibly others who may have contributed to the change in the zoning ordinance that led to Nestle’s coming into Kunkletown.“My answer was resolved after our meeting with Attorney (James) Preston,” Bush said. “My complete and honest answer was based on the economic issues going forward and the loss of time needed to spend on improving our township … making it better and just dealing with the day-to-day issues and demands. I need to say that I came home from the meeting with attorney Preston with: NO GUARANTEES for anything other than a tremendously huge bill and endless months or possibly years of stressful work.”Clausen recusedChairwoman Mary Anne Clausen had removed herself from the decision making regarding the pursuing of legal action.A newly elected official at the time of the zoning changes in question, Clausen felt recused herself since she was on the board at the time and voted for the change.Clausen has said she was not properly informed and she has openly opposed the water extraction plan.Clausen was instrumental in hiring a hydrogeologist to reviewing the Nestle application and testing. She also supported hiring special counsel to represent the township during the zoning hearings.“We have met with attorney Preston, and quite frankly the other attorneys who were involved and are very knowledgeable about this matter and we have been told that there is very little chance that we could win a civil case,” Clausen said.“I have already looked into this and I know that we can pursue this,” said Donna Deihl. “We should at the least ask the Attorney General’s office to look into it.”Township solicitor Michael Gaul agreed that the township could write a letter to the District Attorney or the Attorney General and ask for an investigation to determine if any of the actions taken regarding the changing of the ordinance were criminal.“But they are going to want to know exactly what law was broken,” Gaul said. “They don’t investigate and say ‘yes this looks like something is wrong,’ there has to be a law broken. What law was broken?”In conclusion, Hoffman made a motion, seconded by Bush to have Gaul send letters to both the District Attorney of Monroe County and the state Attorney General requesting that an investigation be undertaken. Clausen asked residents interested in being contacted as part of the investigation, specifically those with evidence of any wrongdoing, submit their names and contact information to the township so that the information could be included in the letter.Hoffman made a motion to have the Planning Commission look into filing a complaint with the Disciplinary Board regarding the contact between attorney James Wimmer and township planning secretary, Darcy Gannon. The concern is whether or not Wimmer had instructed Gannon to change the minutes of a planning commission meeting in an email. The email has been widely circulated.