CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — After an executive session at its Monday meeting, the Clarion Borough Council agreed to a settlement with former Borough Police Chief and Secretary Mark Hall over the amount Hall is to receive in his pension.

(Photo of former Clarion Borough Police Chief and Borough Secretary Mark Hall)

According to Clarion Borough Solicitor John Marshall, there was a disagreement between Hall and Clarion Borough over the amount of Hall’s pension with the difference being in the amount of $148.00 per month.

Under the settlement, Hall agreed to a pension of $1,714.31 per month starting July 1, 2028. Clarion Borough agreed not to challenge Hall’s entitlement to his pension benefits, and Clarion Borough also agreed to refund Hall his excess contributions and interest under the pension plan in the amount of $1,128.36 to be paid within 30 days of the agreement being signed by both parties.

In the fall of 2016, Hall was relieved from his position as borough police chief and was terminated from his position as a police officer on November 15, 2016, by Clarion Borough Council. This came after Hall had been suspended by then Clarion Mayor Dave Walters.

While the Borough Council at the time refused to discuss why Hall had been relieved of his duties, exploreClarion obtained information through Right to Know Requests, and through that information, it appeared Hall may have made unauthorized payments of over $20,000.00 to himself. The Council asked then Clarion County District Attorney to investigate the matter, but Aaron, because of previous relationships with Hall forwarded the information to Pennsylvania Attorney General Mark Shapiro’s office. Shapiro’s office elected not to pursue the matter.

In April of 2017, the Clarion Borough Council agreed to approve a settlement in the amount of $20,751.20 to be paid to the borough by Travelers Insurance Company over the matter.

At Monday’s meeting, Borough resident Elizabeth Fulmer asked why someone who had “been doing bad things” gets a pension.

Borough solicitor John Marshall told Fulmer the law is not necessarily clear in this case, and the settlement was reached to avoid what he termed expensive litigation citing the fact the litigation could have taken a long time and the borough could have been facing an unfavorable outcome.

“I understand the concern around certain issues,” Marshall said. “Council took all of that into consideration and would like to put this matter to rest. I believe the Council thinks this is the best decision financially and time-wise.”

Council members Rose Logue, Jason Noto, Carol Lapinto, Rachel Roberts and Zach Garbarino voted in favor of the settlement, while councilman Ben Aaron voted against the settlement.

“I don’t think he should get anything,” Aaron told exploreClarion. “That’s been my position on that. Don’t take from the people of the borough and expect to get anything from that. You ruined that.”

Aaron said he had to draw a line and decide how many people he represents want to keep fighting Hall not getting the money.

“I am kind of disappointed the (Attorney General’s office) didn’t take it up,” Aaron said.

Roberts, who voted for the settlement, believed the borough was put in a no-win situation.

“We were put in a difficult situation,” Roberts said. “We had to make a choice. We had to choose between two ways of going, and we chose the way that was going to cost taxpayers less. It was an unfair situation that we were put in.”

BOROUGH RESIDENTS REMINDED OF SIDEWALK, STREET POLICIES DURING THE WINTER

The council took an opportunity to remind borough residents of the sidewalk and street policies during the winter months.

Borough residents are reminded to follow the posted signs for parking on borough streets overnight during the winter months in order for snow removal to occur.

Residents were also reminded that they had 24 hours after snow has fallen to clean the sidewalks in front of their properties.

OPENING ON THE LIBRARY BOARD

There is currently a vacancy for a 3-year term on the Clarion Free Library Board with the term to expire at the end of 2022, according to Lapinto, the Council president.

“Anyone interested should contact the borough office,” Lapinto said. “They must be a resident of the borough.”

OTHER BUSINESS

In other business the council:

• Approved the council meeting dates for the first Tuesday of every month. If a second meeting is needed during a month, it would be held on the third Tuesday. Meetings are at 7:00 p.m. at the Clarion Free Library except for the November meeting, which is being held on the first Monday of the month at the Library because of the election.
• Gave permission to complete a CDBG modification/revision process for adding the fiscal year 2018 Main Street activity to the fiscal year 2016 application and adding the fiscal year 2016 community park recreation improvements activities to the 2018 application. This will allow the borough to replace all of the street lights on Main Street. Under the previous proposal, all but 20 street lights were to be replaced. The replacements must happen by the end of Summer 2020.
• Approved a proposal from S&T Bank for the 2020 tax anticipation note in the amount of $300,000.00 a rate of 1.74 percent. This note will allow the borough to continue to operate if tax funds are late coming in.
• Gave permission for Todd Colosimo to drawdown CDBG funds to reimburse the General Fund in the amount of $2,363.04. This covers Colosimo’s CDBG wages from July 28, 2019, through December 28, 2019, in the amount of $1,840.02 and also covers the advertising fees in the amount of $523.02.
• Appointed the EADS Group as the Clarion Borough engineer for 2020.
• Appointed Susquehanna Accounting Consulting as Clarion Borough’s financial consultant for 2020 at a rate of $190.00, the same as in 2019.