Who runs Canton Borough Council? That was the question at Monday night’s council meeting.
Council fired longtime Borough Manager Amy Seeley earlier this month, but she still claims to be a Canton representative.
Seeley claimed on Monday to the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR) that she is still the borough’s open records officer, according to a letter from the office to Bradford County resident Walter Woods. Before her termination, Seeley was also Canton’s secretary, Right-to-Know Law officer and treasurer.
The borough had denied an information request from Woods, and he appealed the borough’s decision to the OOR. The office reported in the letter that that the borough had not accessed appeal documents and that Seeley called OOR staff and claims she is the open records officer and gave the borough notice of the appeal.
WVIA contacted Seeley for comment; she redirected WVIA to her lawyer, Marc Lovecchio from McCormick Law. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Vice Chair George Jennings said board members had no knowledge that Seeley was acting on the borough’s behalf until Woods brought it to their attention. He said council is looking into the situation and took action at Monday’s meeting by removing Seeley from all borough signatories.
He highlighted that council plans to formally discontinue the manager’s position and have an administrator with reduced powers.
“The last [manager] we had in here, it just went to her head,” said Jennings. “She got power and we had a lot of complaints…it just caused a big headache. So, we want to throw that out and rebuild the borough office.”
Council promoted Terry LaMont from part-time to full-time to work as the borough’s administrator, secretary and open records officer at the meeting.
Rebuilding Canton Borough…without a mayor
Canton Borough hasn’t had a mayor since September. Council President Michael Shultz is the acting mayor until a mayor is selected. The board failed to vote in a mayor within a 45-day period from the former mayor’s resignation, so the decision goes to the county’s vacancy board. A judge will pick a mayor from a list of submitted applications.
However, when the board voted down all three mayoral applications on Oct. 14, Shultz cast his votes for mayor as a council member. The board has since explained it made a mistake and Shultz, who is acting as mayor, should not have voted.
The board voted 3-3 on Dave Groover one of the mayoral candidates. Shultz, who said that at the time he believed he could cast a vote, then broke the tie with an additional vote against Groover.
If Shultz hadn’t voted, the board would have voted in Groover as mayor by a 3-2 vote.
Councilman Brian Koval has said he disagrees with the board’s decision to not reverse its decision within the 45-day period and promised to submit documentation to the county’s vacancy board reflecting that view.
More borough changes
LaMont wasn’t the borough’s only hire on Monday. Leanne Engleman, hired last month as zoning officer, will also serve as code enforcement officer. The zoning and code enforcement positions will be made into one borough position, according to the council.
Code Enforcement Officer John Raub resigned before Monday’s meeting, according to the council.
The board also promoted Clint Vermilya to police corporal. Canton still lacks a chief and assistant chief after Doug Seeley retired and Trent Wright resigned in September. According to the board, there are only two officers — both part-time — on the force, including Vermilya.
Council also laid out plans to create a public complaint form and website.
Koval said the changes are long overdue. The borough used to have a complaint form and website, but they weren’t used to keep the public informed, he explained. He said the new form and website will aid borough “transparency.”
Jennings echoed Koval and added it will let residents know what’s going on in the borough.
“So, that way we're not – when people come in here – we're not getting hounded,” said Jennings. “We're trying to rebuild things now to get people back to normal. So, we're not getting all the complaints, getting all this, you know, fighting at the meetings or people looking at us to say, ‘Hey, why ain’t you doing this? Or why ain’t you doing that?’ We're trying to work things out and rebuild the borough back to where it should have been 20 years ago.”
Canton Borough Council’s next meeting is Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. The council plans to review its budget at the meeting.
Who’s who
Here is a recap of other personnel changes in recent months:
- Mayor Dean Vanderpool asked to resign on Sept. 16, the council accepted his resignation on Sept. 25.
- Council President Michael Shultz. Current member. He is serving as the borough’s acting mayor until a new mayor is elected.
- Vice-President George Jennings. Current member.
- Councilwoman Joy Williams. Current member.
- Councilman David Preston asked to resign on Sept. 16, the council accepted his resignation on Sept. 25.
- Councilman Jeff Cole is a new member of the council. He was voted in by a vote of 4-2 to the council on Oct. 14. He was sworn in by a local magistrate before the Nov. 5 meeting.
- Councilwoman Deanna Watkins. Current member.
- Councilman Brian Koval. Current member.
- Councilman Brett Neeley resigned on Sept. 9. Position was filled on Sept. 16.
- Councilman David Atherton-Ely is a new member of the council. The board swore him in on Sept. 16 to replace Neeley.
- Police Chief Doug Seeley announced his retirement on Sept. 16 and retired on Sept. 30. Position is vacant.
- Assistant Police Chief Trent Wright resigned effective Sept. 28 and the board accepted his resignation on Oct. 14. Position is vacant.
- Solicitor David Brann resigned on Sept. 25. Position is temporarily held by Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC until the board can find permanent counsel.
- Zoning and Code Enforcement Officer Leanne Engleman was hired at the Nov. 5 meeting as a zoning officer. Her role was expanded to code enforcement on Nov. 18.
- Borough Administrator Terry LaMont was hired full-time as the borough's administrator, secretary and right-to-know officer on Nov. 18.
- Officer Clint Vermilya was promoted to corporal on Nov. 18. He is still in a part-time position with the Canton Borough Police Department.
