SMETHPORT – The assets of the McKean County Solid Waste
Authority were frozen Monday during an injunction hearing in McKean
County Court.
According to a court order issued by McKean County President
Judge John Cleland, a special injunction has been placed against
the authority until Thursday morning, when another hearing over the
county’s request for a preliminary injunction is held at 9 a.m. in
the small courtroom.
The county – which dissolved the authority during a meeting
Saturday – is hoping to obtain a permanent injunction against the
authority in the future.
“We have a situation where the county is expressing its
statutory right to dissolve an authority,” Neil Devlin from the
Erie law firm of Knox, McLaughlin, Gornall and Sennett PC, who is
representing the county, said. “We are asking the court to freeze
their assets where they are now and stop them from handing out any
more money.”
At this time, county officials said the order will not affect
the $1.3 million the authority handed out to municipal officials
Saturday during a special meeting of the agency.
The court order also bars the authority from carrying out any
future action approved at its Nov. 1 and 4 meetings and prevents
the authority from engaging in any action contrary to county
Resolution 51, which essentially directs the authority on how to
handle any of the remaining funds.
“It is not my decision whether or not the actions of the Solid
Waste Authority were wise or unwise policy choices,” Cleland told
the county’s legal team. “It’s also not my decision to decide on
whether the county’s actions to dissolve the authority is wise or
unwise. Those are political issues.”
The authority was not represented at the approximately 20-minute
hearing. However, Devlin said solicitor Tony Alfieri was faxed
paperwork announcing the county’s intentions and that a hearing was
slated for Monday afternoon. According to a copy of the court
order, the authority has until Wednesday afternoon to file an
answer in the case.
Messages left seeking comment on the injunction from Alfieri at
both his law firm and home were not returned as of late Monday
night. A legal notice faxed to The Era Monday afternoon indicates
the authority will hold a special meeting Wednesday to “discuss
possible litigation matters.”
On Saturday, Alfieri said the authority had no specific plans
for litigation. The authority has set aside funds to pay the
retainers of its attorneys, Alfieri and Rhoads and Sinon of
Harrisburg, and for any legal fees associated with litigation and
in anticipation of its funds being frozen.
Commissioner Chairman John Egbert told the media after the
hearing he “fully expects” Cleland to rule the county’s way in the
matter.
“We (county) expect it to be challenged,” Egbert said. “I don’t
see the process taking that long. What we are doing is legal. We
expect them (authority) to go out of business, gather their cookies
and put them on the table.
“The authority has to stop giving the money away,” Egbert
added.
Egbert said the county also believes the authority’s “emergency
meeting” the evening of Nov. 4 was not legal per the Sunshine Act.
Conversely, Alfieri said the session was legal, pointing to the
“confiscation of property” and the “whole situation” as reasons for
holding it.
According to Egbert, the ultimate responsibility to dissolve an
authority lies with the state, who views a judge’s decision and
sets forth a course of action.
When asked about whether the commissioners had violated the
Sunshine Act by limiting public comment to roughly 15 minutes
during the panel’s special Saturday morning meeting, Egbert called
the actions by those in attendance “An organized attempt to
filibuster and prevent us from getting our business done in a
one-hour time frame.”
At that meeting, members of the audience – which included about
50 people, many of which were municipal leaders – demanded to be
heard per the Sunshine Act, with one official standing to read her
own statement while County Administrator Richard Casey read the
five-page resolution to the crowd.
“This is a contentious situation and there’s money involved,”
Egbert said. “One morning, people woke up and Santa Claus had
arrived (referring to the $1.3 million windfall).”
The county received its $2.5 million from the authority Monday
afternoon, according to Egbert, who added the county had not
deposited the funds but set the check aside for safe keeping.
According to the county’s resolution, the authority has 15 days
to turn over all funds and assets and surrender control of all bank
accounts or accounts receivable to the county. Within 30 days, the
authority is ordered to turn over control of all its functions to
the county and is “directed to dissolve itself.”
