After a puzzling four days, the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records confirmed that Former Canton Borough Manager Amy Seeley did not tell OOR administrative staff that she is still the borough’s open record officer.
Canton Borough Council fired Seeley earlier this month, but a clerical error with the OOR made it appear that Seeley claimed that she was the borough’s open records officer on Nov. 18. OOR Deputy Director Nathan Byerly confirmed Thursday that OOR had Seeley listed in their records as the borough’s officer and a OOR employee had assumed it was Seeley who called the office on Nov. 18.
Speaking to WVIA by phone Thursday, Seeley denied all allegations that she claimed she is the borough’s open records officer.
“I acknowledge that I was terminated on Nov. 10 and I would never do something like that,” said Seeley.
Seeley has declined to publicly discuss any other issues related to her termination.
Byerly explained that Canton’s new Right-to-Know Officer Terry LaMont had actually called the office on the 18th to confirm that the borough had received appeal documents from the OOR.
LaMont also confirmed that she called the OOR on Nov. 18. She added she called the office a second time this week to ask for more information about the situation and said an OOR employee had recognized her voice and realized they had made a mistake.
The OOR had Seeley still listed as Canton’s Right-to-Know officer because the borough had not contacted the office to let staff know that there had been a personnel change, according to Byerly.
According to the OOR, LaMont registered with the office as the borough's current Right-to-Know officer on Nov. 19. OOR's email to WVIA with that information was received on Nov. 22.
Byerly said he will review the OOR’s database and check where the OOR could have prevented the error.
