SUNBURY — Two Northumberland County commissioners argued heatedly Tuesday over whether one member of the board should be able to make decisions on his own involving taxpayer money.
Commissioner Vinny Clausi accused fellow Democratic Commissioner Frank Sawicki of circumventing the board on multiple occasions, namely when he renewed the county’s contract with Purdy Insurance and granted $1.15 million in state money to Sunbury for riverfront stabilization without getting Clausi’s approval and that of Republican Commissioner Kurt Masser.
“We have three commissioners to rule ... you did it by yourself,” Clausi said. “You should have come to the board to make it legal. You didn’t do that.”
“I’m working within my jurisdiction,” Sawicki responded.
Sawicki said the previous administration approved the allocation of $1.39 million in state grants to a handful of projects, most of it for Sunbury, in 2006. Sawicki officially awarded the grant money to the city last month, a move that was ratified Tuesday by only Sawicki and Masser.
“If the board approved the projects, I’m not going to say no,” Sawicki said Tuesday. “Riverbank stabilization is necessary to protect Sunbury from a wall failure.”
But Clausi said he wasn’t opposed to giving the money to Sunbury, just the way it was handled.
“It’s the principle,” he said. The money could have benefited other areas of the county, like Milton, Mount Carmel or Coal Township, he said.
County solicitors Hugh Jones and Vincent Rovito concurred with Clausi, saying the right thing to do would have been for the board to vote on how the grant money should be allocated.
“Especially if you’re looking out for the best interests of the taxpayers,” assistant solicitor Rovito said.
The previous board of commissioners may have voted to distribute the grant a particular way, but the current board “could have revisited that at any time,” Rovito said.
The only way Sawicki should have been able to dole out grant money on his own is if the board approved a resolution granting him that power, which it never did, Jones said. The same can be said of Sawicki’s approval to renew the county’s contract with Purdy.
“None of this was ever brought before us (the solicitors),” Jones said.
Clausi said he wants to work with Sawicki, but he won’t stand by and be left out of the loop.
“I want to work with the guy, but we have to change,” Clausi said. “Because I’m not going to keep my mouth shut any more.
“If this is a one-man board, maybe we should all quit and go home.”
-- E-mail comments to rscott@dailyitem.com.
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