The Slatington Borough Council let go of its ordinance enforcement officer at the reorganization meeting on Jan. 5, but he isn’t the only one that has been let go within the last month.

During the reorganizational meeting this month, the council decided to not reappoint Anthony Lopsonzski as the ordinance enforcement officer. Duane Dellecker, who was the borough’s zoning officer and building code officer for 23 years, was let go in December.

In an interview in December about his job, Dellecker said Lopsonzski was handling rental inspections. Dellecker said he was notified of his termination on Dec. 9 by borough Manager Roy Hambrecht.

The council held a special meeting on Dec. 22 where it approved hiring Keystone Consulting Engineers as borough zoning contractor..

The proposal letter from KCE to the borough regarding its rates and zoning officer services listed a staffing plan that included Daren Martocci as the client services director, Jim Macort as the zoning officer, Marvin Walton as the zoning specialist, and Anita Einolf as the rental inspection/codes.

David Schnaars, who was president of the council at the special meeting, said about KCE, “We’ve got one firm that will cover everything.”

The rates for those services are: zoning officer, $115 per hour; zoning permit review, $105 per hour; and code enforcement and rental inspections, $100 per hour. Dellecker said he was paid $33 per hour as a part-time employee and did not receive benefits.

“I never received a reprimand,” Dellecker said. “I asked twice that I wanted a meeting to talk about this, no response.” He has theories as to why maybe he was left go, but he doesn’t know.

When asked why Dellecker was left go, Hambrecht replied, “Respectfully, that’s an employee matter which I will not comment on nor discuss publicly.”

In a separate correspondence, the Times News also requested from Hambrecht a copy of the letter of reprimand and the letter of separation. He replied with a blank Right to Know order to be completed and said, “Regarding employees, the borough can offer name, start date, end date, work location, job description, and current rate of pay. However, please keep in mind that under the RTK law, the borough is not obligated to create new records or write narrative responses in response to any request. The borough’s obligation is to provide existing records that are responsive to the request.”

A Right-to-Know order was sent to the borough on Jan. 6, and Hambrecht replied that further response would be sent within 30 days.

Dellecker said he was surprised by his firing. Nothing was in the council’s agenda for its regular meeting on Dec. 8 stating that Dellecker’s dismissal was up for a vote.

The Pennsylvania Sunshine Act calls for meeting agendas have to be advertised to the public and says what has to be included in those agendas, and the rules governing executive sessions. Executive sessions are meetings where governing bodies can discuss topics in private, but cannot take action in an official vote.

“Hiring and firing employees is official action under the Sunshine Act, and it must occur at a public meeting, and only after there’s been an opportunity for public comment,” said Melissa Bevan Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania News Media Association. “The personnel executive session allows the board to discuss specific employees during an executive session, but the session must be publicly announced with specificity either before the executive session takes place or at the next meeting thereafter. Also, the employee being discussed has the right to request the discussion happen at a public meeting.”

Melewsky also said, “If there wasn’t a public vote to dismiss the employee, it’s a Sunshine Act issue that could create liability for the agency. Further, if there was an executive session that was not announced publicly, that’s a potential Sunshine Act issue.

She said the employee must be given the opportunity to request the executive session about this job happen publicly, it’s another potential Sunshine Act issue.”