By Diane Petryk
The Daily Item
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SUNBURY — Cali the kitty will wait at Joe Bartello’s mother’s house while the city councilman lives at the Edison Hotel to satisfy the mayor.
But that may not be necessary, according to the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development.
Mayor David Persing said he would act to have Bartello booted off City Council if he didn’t submit proof of residency within Sunbury by Monday.
In an open memo to Bartello, Persing quoted the Sunbury ordinance articles that require council members to live in the city and the requirement that the mayor be “vigilant and active” in causing the ordinances of the city … to be executed and enforced.
Bartello hadn’t lived within Sunbury since he lost his lease June 1, when attempts to renegotiate his lease on South Front Street fell through. Since then, he said, he has been looking for an apartment that would allow him to keep his daughter’s cat, Cali, while she’s away at college. Temporarily, he and the cat are staying at his parents’ house near the city. The elder Bartellos have a business at the Market House on Market Street.
“Working 40 hours a week and some on the weekend, plus City Council, hasn’t exactly given me a tremendous amount of time to look for a place,” he said in early August when his residency became an issue by anonymous tip.
At the time, Councilman Todd Snyder said, “If there are extenuating circumstances, it’s kind of a petty thing to bring up.”
Friday, however, DCED spokesman Mark Shade, said the mayor’s threat is “overreaching.”
“This appears to be a case of someone who has not changed his primary address,” Shade said. “He hasn’t established a new abode. Removal from office would be invalid under the Pennsylvania Constitution.”
Several people have pointed out that when Bob Snyder was on the council he lived on Packer Island, which is outside city limits, most of his term. Persing was mayor then, too.
Persing said Snyder’s case was an issue, but Snyder was able to prove his legal residence was in the city.
Persing said he has to act or it would look like Sunbury is not following the law.
“I’m hoping he just gives me an address,” he said Friday.
It’s 401 Market St., Bartello told The Daily Item.
-- E-mail comments to dianepetryk@dailyitem.com
