Monday, May 9, 2016

Disgraced Eldred Township Supervisor Solt's resignation accepted at "emergency" board meeting in wake of Nestlé debacle

First, planning commission secretary and mother of ex-Supervisor Gretchen Gannon Pettit was shown the door when it was discovered her minutes were "twice baked".

Nest, landowner Ricky Gower took leave of township meetings, once the hijinx surrounding the 2014 ordinance amendment was exposed.

Ms. Gannon Pettit, having not run for re-election in the wake of the unsettling discovery that "Nestle is in town", had the door slam into her behind on January 4, when Joann Bush was seated.

Then, planning commission Solicitor Dan Lyons was relieved of his duties in mid-January, very shortly after allowing Nestle to show up unannounced and present to the planning commission.

Ms. Gannon Pettit put the Kunkletown Pub up for sale about a month ago, which is pretty odd timing.

On April 28, the Pocono Record published an article in which it reported that landowner Gower's attorney James Wimmer Esquire (who had assisted Planning Commission Secretary Darcy Gannon in editing her minutes to get them "right"), had sent a draft ordinance with several misrepresentation in it directly to Planning Consultant Carson Helfrich (who didn't flag the horrendous flaws and misrepresentations in it), had "no comment" when the allegations were brought to his attention.  Mr. Wimmer didn't deny them - he would not comment.

This morning, at an "emergency" meeting of the Eldred Township Board of Supervisors, Sharon Solt did in abstentia what was inevitable, and resigned...  at a non-regular board meeting when hardly anyone was there.  No - check your calendar - this isn't April Fools.  This is all too real.  There are rumors floating around of an investigation into payroll peculiarities - it isn't known if this is true.  If so it may have been the straw that broke Old Ironsides' back.

While Ms. Solt has served at a Supervisor for more than 10 years, she certainly earned her premature exit from this term.  At a meeting in February, she snapped at a resident and suggested that resident should have paid attention when the water extraction amendment was passed.  What is now known is that Ms. Solt should have paid more attention.  First, as secretary she oversaw multiple errors in the procedure of adopting the amendment.  She didn't know or says she didn't know the consequences of the amendment; a resident reports that recently Solt stated "If I had any idea that the water extraction project would come with those wellhead restrictions, I would not have voted for it!"  All you had to do was look at the damned ordinance, Sharon.  Finally, it was Ms. Solt who could have undone the gross errors on her watch - but she refused twice to vote to overturn the amendment last year.  Who should have paid more attention?


Here are some quotes we haven't heard:

"As Secretary, if I had any idea the BOS had to vote to authorize an amendment, I would have brought that up.  That may have been covered at a PSATS convention while BeachGal was sipping a martini in the pool."

"As Secretary, if I had any idea that the BOS had to vote to advertise an amendment, I would have brought that up!"

"As Secretary, if I knew that Robert's Rules of Order say that minutes are supposed to reflect what happened at a meeting, and not what I wanted to say happened - that would have made a big difference.  Huge."

"After it was brought to my attention in early 2015 that the ordinance had been improperly passed, and that it appeared funny business was involved, I should have seconded one of Ms. Clausen's two motions to overturn it.  Instead, I sat on my hands and now Eldred Township and its residents are paying dearly.  I guess I screwed up."  Um.  Yes.

"If I had any idea that Mr. Fareri hadn't reviewed the water extraction amendment, that would have changed my position."*

*Records recently obtained indicate that not only is there no record the county planning commission reviewed the amendment, but there is no record that CJER Solicitor Fareri did either.

If you don't see the irony in this, watch it a second time

This is a catchy tune

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