Penn Forest Township supervisors have voted to sue township auditor Matthew Schutter to force him to set the salaries for the roadmaster and the supervisors.

Earlier this year Schutter gave the supervisors an ultimatum: either they perform a forensic audit for the years prior to 2010 or the auditors would not set a salary for the board for 2015.In the past claims were made that $1.6 million was "missing.""The $1.6 million was never missing; there is no missing money," contends supervisor Christine Fazio. "What this came down to was money that was not properly accounted for, but rather lumped into a 'general fund' and an improper understanding of the bidding process."I have spoken to Alan Katz," Fazio continued. "Alan was involved in the original claims. Even Alan agrees that there is no reason for a forensic audit at this time."A former supervisor, Katz said, "I verified with our auditors at the time, Kirk & Summa, and they explained that we had to break out all of the departments into their own accounts and that the previous board had improperly broken down road contracts into tiny pieces, which I contend was to avoid going out for competitive bids."Katz said he agreed with the accountanting firm that a forensic audit, at a cost of $20,000 to $30,000 was not necessary.During the meeting, supervisor Phil Shedaker made a motion to rescind the motion by the previous board to conduct a forensic audit."All of the information is in the hands of the FBI," Shedaker said. "If the FBI comes back and says they have something, I will be the first to make a motion for an audit, but until then this thing just keeps coming up and we need to put an end to it."The board directed township solicitor Thomas Nanovic, to bring a suit against Schutter, to force the auditors to set the salaries.Schutter previously sent a letter to the township, stating the supervisors salary will not be paid until the board of supervisors "give us an answer on your plans about having aforensic investigation on the misappropriation of funds."Schutter also wrote that the supervisors illegally pay themselves $35 per meeting, that the roadmaster and assistant roadmaster, supervisors Warren Reiner and Scott Lignore, will not be paid until a driver's license background check is performed.The letter also requested a certified copy of Donna Bigleo's resignation as auditor and said, "We will not accept Robert Serafini as an appointed auditor."In a letter sent to Schutter and members Serafini and Robert Boyle, Nanovic responded to all of Schutter's issues, explaining that it is his belief that the supervisors' salaries "are set by ordinance, as authorized by state law …, therefore, of course, you have no authority to decide that the supervisors will not receive their salary."No authoritySerafini said, "What Mr. Schutter is doing, and this is one man doing this, is tantamount to extortion."Nanovic said that under the Second Class Code the supervisors can pay themselves monthly as long as the total compensation paid does not exceed that which is set by the code.Nanovic dismissed a lot of what Schutter requested by pointing out that the he lacked the authority to make the requests in the first place."Again, the Second Class Township Code is pretty clear as to what the Board of Auditors are authorized to do," concluded Nanovic.Lastly, Schutter had requested that Serafini not be permitted to continue as an appointed member of the board."Basically, Mr. Schutter feels that Mr. Serafini has an offensive personality. Whether or not that is the case, it is certainly not a sufficient reason to prevbent a duly appointed public official from performing his duties," Nanovic said.The claims against Serafini arise from an auditors' meeting on Jan. 19 when it is alleged that Serafini confronted both Schutter and former township employee, Mary Ann Lewellyn.According to Lewellyn, Serafini approached her at the meeting."I'm going to recommend to the board that they sue you for the (expletive) money they gave you to keep you out of town," Serafini allegedly commented. "Congratulations (expletive)."Lewellyn also claims that Serafini touched her shoulder, at which point Lewellyn admonished him to never touch her again. Lewellyn also said that Serafini apologized to her and to her husband for his actions.Schutter's response during the meeting was that "The code says 'may' set the board of supervisors salary, and we take that to mean we have the authority to deny them."Schutter also contends that the board tries to "silence the residents by denying their constitutional and God-given rights."