Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOMM - Meeting Minutes - 68 - 5-8-1973 - COMMISSIONERMINUTE BOOK BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASH NGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS �I Minute No. #6 8 Office of the County Commissioners Washington, Pa., May 8, 1973 A Special Meeting of the Board of County Commissioners was held on Tuesday, May 8, 1973, at 2:00 p.m. in the Commissioners' Conference Room with the following members being present: Commissioners Jones, Paluso and Flynn. Also present being: Chief Clerk Murphy; County Solicitor Hormell; Administrative Assistant Whalen; Mr. Frank Roney, Esq. , Charles A. Gillespie; Reporters R-obertson and Crouse of The Observer - Reporter; Reporter Lilley of The Daily Notes; Reporter Liesch of The Brownsville Telegraph; Earl Bugaile - WKEG Radio; and Jack Merdian - WJPA Radio. Chairman stated that as Chairman of the Board of County Commissioners that said Special Meeting of the Board was called and that a memorandum under date of May 7, 1973, under the signature of the Chairman of the Board was directed to Commissioners Jones and Paluso informing them of said Special Meeting. Chairman then read said memorandum. (Copy of memorandum found on Page 8). Chairman requested the minutes to indicate that not only is said meeting a Special Meeting for the purpose contained in said memorandum but that said minutes are to be made a Special Record. Chairman requested that for the record that roll call be taken: Mr. Jones - Present; Mr. Paluso - Present; Mr. Flynn - Present. Mr. Flynn: As of 2:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon Mr. Gillespie representing the Controller's Office came to the Commissioners' Office and presented us with an authorization for the pay- ment of a bill in the sum of $82, 480. 66 payable to the Erie County Commissioners. Mr. Gilles- pie asked me to whom these bills should be presented and I told him to the Chief Clerk. I asked the gentleman if that was the extent of what he had and he asked me what I had in mind and I said that it is required that we have vouchers approved or disapproved attachedthereto the checks to go with them attached thereto the bills to be paid and approved., and which he pro- ceeded back to the office and shortly after that he forwarded same to the Board of County Com- missioners and gave it to the Chief Clerk who in turn turned it over to Mr. Whalen. That is our status right now. For the record I would request that prior to any legal proceedings in the County of Erie that there was a meeting held in Erie and I would like for you, Mr. Hormell, just for the record without going into any detail, to give a summary of what took place because I think it could be, in time to come, very important also. Mr. Hormell: At 9:30 a, m, on Wednesday, November 22, 1972, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Jones and myself attended a conference with Judge Carney, Commissioners Hill, Wizmek and Weir and 590 MINUTE B o 0 K BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS Controller Gehrlein and the Sheriff and several deputies of the Sheriff's Staff in the Courthouse in Erie. We had a general discussion of the respective responsibilities of Washington County and Erie County with regard to the trials that were then scheduled to take place in Erie County. I. prepared a memorandum on November 24, 1972, wherein I summarized everything which to the best of my recollection had taken place two days prior and I gave a copy of that memorandum to our Commissioners and sent a copy of it to the Judge in Erie, the Erie County CommissionerE. and the Erie County Controller. I think the memorandum speaks for itself and I will have a copy of it inserted into the record. (Copy of Memorandum under date of November 24, 1972, Found on Pages 9-10-11-12 & 13). Mr. Flynn: If there is no objection, gentlemen, I think it , should be made a part of the record. i don't think it is anything controversial - it is a summary of an agreement between the two counties. The reason why I would like it to be a part of the record is that it is my intent to show that insofar as the two county governments are concerned, that there is no animosity Between the two county governments because we happen to know each other quite personally and we consider ourselves intimate friends. That is the reason why so that there is no area of misunderstanding between the elected officials - that is the point. Upon receipt of the vouchers as delivered by Mr. Gillespie and turned over to Mr. Whalen, our Administrative Assistant, an(. as ;you gentlemen know, an Accountant, he immediately, I would say in the neighborhood of 22:15 or 2:30 p, m. in conjunction with his abled assistant, a young gentleman by the name of Ir. Crouse who is also an accountant, proceeded to go over these vouchers and itemize and itemize. I have discussed this with Mr. Whalen not in detail, gentlemen, briefly just to give ne some idea what his finding was and he is prepared for the record now to make a statement as to just exactly what his finding was. VIr. Whalen: Of necessity the costs are broken down into several categories; namely, Jury, State Police and Witnesses, Special Guards and Witnesses, Richard Sprague and Staff and State Nitnesses, Medical, Witnesses and Miscellaneous. Mr. Crouse and I have gone through most )f the vouchers and we have run into a couple of problems as far as segregation of the particu- ar costs are concerned and that is that up to now it has been stated on many occasions that the State Police would pick up their portion of this cost. I don't know that it has been substantiated, )ut it has been stated. However, the billings from the El Patio Motel in Erie are of a general nature and they billed State Police and Witnesses - so to make a determination in that category which amounts to $13, 206. 00, it is necessary that a proper breakdown be made as to Al at is ;applicable strictly to the State Police and what is applicable to the witnesses because without ,,hat you don't have the figure that you want to talk to with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Now in the arrangements another item is special guards and witnesses and witnesses again. We are involved there and there were some agreements made in the document that Mr. Hormell has there that Erie County had made certain aommitments and that again is a dual situation on the J 1 MINUTE BOOK 591 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASH NGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS charges Special Guards and Witnesses and that, too, needs to be separated and it can be basic- ally only separated by the Erie County authorities. Again we have another large item here which is a $35, 000 item which is Richard Sprague and Staff and State Witnesses. Again proper budgetary charges cannot be made unless that particular item is segregated because Mr. Sprague is operating as a Special Assistant District Attorney in this case and any and all charges which would be incurred by he and his staff would, of course, be chargeable to the District Attorney account. Again, we must get the witnesses segregated from that account. So there are three (3) areas th*re that we believe should have that proper breakdown made and in that respect it would be our recommendation that the County Controller in Erie County be asked to properly segregate thosecharges so that we would know exactly what it was. We haven't found any partic- ular matter that we feelaup to this point is of a questionable nature. However, if such a thing would happen - well, quite naturally we would be consulting with the legal counsel for the County to determine what the county's position would be. I believe that Mr. Hormell has had some discussions today with Erie - -Cbunty with regard to these matters. Do you want to mention thosE. at this time and what you talked about? Mr. Flynn: But before you do, please, again for the record I want the record to show that I instructed Mr. Hormell this morning to contact Mr. Bill Hill, Chairman of the Board of the Erie County Commissioners. Mr. Hill is the gentleman that called me yesterday here in my office. I asked Mr. Hormell to contact him to ask some clarifying questions here on what we intend to do or how we are going to proceed here and what his thinking was on the payment on - some of these bills. Mr. Hormell: I tried to get a hold of Mr. Hill but he was tied up with other matters but I did talk with David DeHaven, Business Manager for Erie County, I was interested in certain resolu- tions which had been adopted by the County and whether they had been followed up and I was further interested in whether the bills had been submitted to the County Commissioners for approval prior- to authorization for payment being made. I obtained answers to both of these questions and I have given them to Mr. Whalen in his analysis. I then contacted Mr. Peter Schaff, County Solicitor, and discussed the matter with him in detail. I told the County Solici- tor that I was prepared to advise the County Commissioners that with those bills of which there was no question we should request our County Controller to draw a check and voucher forthwith and pay those bills to Erie County. I further suggested to him that on those bills about which there was a question that it would be my advice that the bills would not be paid until the, back-up data received in order to answer those questions was .in the possession of W. Whalen. Mr. Schaff is in entire agreement with that procedure and he authorized me to say that on behalf of the Erie County Commissioners that that system is satisfactory to them and that they are in complete accord that our Commissioners should pay no)bill until and unless our Commissioners 5q2 MINUTE BOOK BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS were satisfied that the bills were proper expenses properly incurred. They are agreeable to the procedure and he also is advising the Erie County Commissioners that this is his advice to them and he assured me that he felt that they would accept his advice. He went on to say that if there were any additional information needed, all Mr. Whalen needed to do is to contact the Erie Business Manager and that would be made available to him and if it were necessary for them to contact the Controller they would do so and further went on to say that if the data which we wanted were not available they would go so far as to request the Controller of Erie County to' use his subpoena powers to obtain that data. As far as I am concerned, the Erie County Com- missioners and the Washington County Commissioners are in complete accord and it would be my recommendation that those bills which have been gone over by Mr. Whalen and with which he is satisfied for payment should be paid immediately and that the Controller should be re- quested to draw a check for that amount and it is further my recommendation that those bills where he raises a question and where he says payment should not be made for whatever reason he states should not be paid until that information is obtained. Mr. Flynn: Mr. Whalen, I would suggest that you elaborate a little more. I believe that you have a copy of a Resolution adopted by the Erie County Commissioners authorizing "X" number of dollars, etc. I believe that for the record that it should show this Resolution adopted by Erie County. (Resolution read by Administrative Assistant Whalen and a c©py attached hereto on Page 14) Mr. Whalen: The record in Erie County will show that this money was paid over and while there was subsequent payments made to this account their record will show that at a special meeting held on March 13, 1973, that the Board of Erie County Commissioners approved all the bills up to that date including those disbursements made by Mr. Sprague and then on a special meeting held on March 23, 1973, Item 4 on their agenda they took like action to approve the bills up to that date and on a meeting on April 3, 1973, Item 5 on their agenda they approved the bills which had been paid up to that date and that was, of course, the final set of bills for this particular case. This is the information that was received from Mr. DeHaven by Mr. Hor- mell this morning. Mr. Flynn: I think the question that must be resolved from a legal standpoint is the total expenditures of money? Mr. Hormell: Yes, Mr. Whalen, what is the total amount attributable to Mr. Sprague's account? Mr. Whalen: The hotel - Holiday Inn - downtown in Erie total $21, 997. 90 but they are made out Richard Sprague, Staff and State Witnesses. There was a special telephone installation in the amount of $276. 59 and a special checking account for Mr. Sprague of $12, 800. 28 which made a total of $ 3 5, 0 74. 7 7. Mr. Hormell: You are not raising any question for telephone installation? IS MINUTE BOOK 593 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASH NGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS 1 Mr. Whalen: No. Mr. Hormell: The question that Mr. Flynn is raising is $12, 000 worth of expenses but there is a $5, 000 Resolution and no resolutions which followed the initial $5, 000 resolution. This is one of the matters that Mr. Schaff and I have to straighten out as to the procedure that when they set up the special account and they passed a resolution authorizing the deposit of $5, 000 but after that $5, 000 was exhausted they passed no further resolutions. But all of the bills including Mr. Sprague's bills were intermingled with all of the other expenses of the trial which creates some of the problems which Mr. Whalen is talking about because there is no separate book- keeping on that special account other than the report that Mr. Sprague made and which I under- stand he made indicated all of the expenses that he had incurred and the money that he had expended with the exception of that there is no other record of how that money was spent. A discussion was then held by Chairman Flynn in reference to which accounts the various items will be charged. Mr. Whalen: My recommendation would be that the Jury Costs, Medical Expenses, Witness Costs and the Miscellaneous expenses be paid forthwith to Erie County, Moved by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Paluso, that the Washington County Board of Commissioners approve the following sums immediately to the Erie County Commissioners in connection with the Prater Trial: Jury Costs $23, 314. 25 Medical $ 670.60 Witnesses $ 269.00 Miscellaneous $ 232.00 TOTAL $24, 485. 85 Remarks: Mr. Flynn: For the record this is not a controversy between Erie and Washington County. All we are trying to do is to have an accounting of expenditures. The two governments are in agree - ment as per conversation between Mr. Hormell, our Chief Counsel, and Mr. Schaff, Erie County's Chief Counsel. Roll call vote taken: Mr. Jones - Yes; Mr. Paluso - Yes; Mr. Flynn - Yes. Motion carried unanimously. Mr. Jones: From what Mr. Whalen has said, he is breaking these items down item by item for us. We are not questioning their integrity. We want an itemized list in what they have done with the money - which we have a right. Moved by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Paluso, that the meeting adjourn. Meeting adjourned. THE FOREGOING MINUTE READ AND APPROVED: ATTEST: CHIEF CLERK , 1973 I a MINUTE BOOK BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS (Attachments) MEMORANDUM From: Michael R. Flynn, Chairman of the Board May 7, 1973 To: Commissioners Frank Jones, Jr, and Edward M. Paluso Subject: Special Meeting As Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, I am hereby notifying you that I am calling a Special Meeting of the Board of J Commissi.oners for Tuesday, May 8, 1973, at 2:00 p. in. The nature of the business to be conducted will be a general overview of our past, present and future position with respect to our responsibility to pay the costs of the cases pre- sently taken place in Erie County. Very truly yours, Is / Michael R. Flynn Michael R. Flynn - Chairman Board of County Commissioners November 28, 1972 Hon. Edward H. Carney, P. J. Erie County Courthouse Erie, Pennsylvania 16500 Dear Judge Carney: Thank you for your kindness at the meeting we had with you on November 22, 1972. There is enclosed a memorandum which we prepared after the meeting. We would appreciate it if you would go over this memorandum and verify that it accurately sets forth what we agreed upon. If there are any changes to be made in it, or if you have any additional information which you think we should have, we would appreciate it if you would see that we get it. Thank you very much. Very truly yours, / s / Oliver N. Hormell mjk Oliver N. Hormell, Esq. Assistant County Solicitor November 24, 1972 MEMORANDUM Mr. Murphy, Mr. Jones, and myself attended a conference with Judge Carney, Commissioners Hill, Wizmek, and Weir, Controller Gehrlein, and the Sheriff and several deputies in the Court House in Erie at 9:30 a. m. on Wednesday, November 22, 1972. The subject of the conference was a consultation on the mechanics and the method which will be used in meeting the County's obligation on the upcoming Yablonski trials, and seeking infor- mation from the President Judge and the Commissioners as to just how they propose to handle the matter, including accounting procedures. Judge Carney indicated that this would not be done during a regular term of Court. This there - fore means that there will be special jurors called for this purpose. It is not to be a blue- ribbon jury, but is to be a jury panel conducted in the same way that they normally form a jury panel. The Judge indicated that he thought approximately 175 people being called should serve the purpose. J 1 1 VIUUTE BOOK 595 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASH NGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK JONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS The Judge has been in consultation with the Attorneys for the Commonwealth and for the Defense, as well as consultations with Judge ..Sweet. From these consultations it would appear that Dis- trict Attorney Costa plans to be in Erie for the purpose of participation. The Judge did not know why and in fact indicated that he felt all Attorneys involved should have local counsel participating particularly in the selection of jurors. The Judge indicated that he felt that Mr. Sprague would probably be conducting the trial, together with his assistant on behalf of the Commonwealth, but the Judge went on further to say that whether or not the District Attorney of Washington County comes to the trial will be a matter for the Prosecution to decide and he will not participate in that. Judge Carney indicated that he would like to have us send him a copy of the Act of 1905 providinc for the submission to the Attorney General of a case upon certification by a President Judge of a particular county. We told him we did not know what reasons the Judge of Washington County had for not making such a certification, but Judge Carney indicated that there must have been such a reason and that he would take the matter up with Judge Sweet. The Judge encouraged us to correspond with him and to contact him particularly with respect to costs, and he specifically requested that with respect to those costs which were objection- able as pointed out by Mr. Murphy (such as some of the costs paid for the Prosecution Attorney:), the Judge would like to have this information available in order to prevent a repetition, or at least to have control over it so that it would be reasonable. The Judge and Commissioners are agreeable that wherever a "normal" cost is involved with personnel and other matters and work done which normally would be done by those people in an ordinary work week, the County of Erie will absorb those costs and it will not be necessary to pinpoint them. Where, however, such personnel such as tipstaffs, deputies, etc. , are required to work in excess of the time they normally do, this would be made attributable to Washington County. With respect to security, all parties agreed that the Sheriff of Erie County is qualified and has the staff necessary to take care of this problem. Getting the witnesses to Erie or getting the defendants to Erie which requires supervision by a Sheriff, however, will be something that would have to be aired out with the Sheriff of Washington County. Judge Carney is of the opinion that he sees no need for Sheriff's personnel of Washington County staying any period of time up here since hisown Sheriff is able to take care of them, and the only thing that really would be required would be delivering the prisoners to Erie County and taking them back.` All parties agreed that the County Commissioners certainly should not be required to be respon- sible for expenses incurred but not contracted for by them. A mechanism is to be devised for control of expenses and certification of costs and a method of payment is to be coordinated be- tween the Controller of Erie County and the Controller of Washington County, and between the Commissioners of Erie County and the Commissioners of Washington County. Mr. jones made quite plain that Washington County Commissioners were not seeking to avoid any of their legal obligations, but made it equally plain that the County Commissioners did not want to be extra- vagant in any way but that we should keep a close watch on the taxpayer's dollar. The Commis- sioners of Erie County promised Mr. Jones that this would be done and that a lid would be kept on all unnecessary expense, and that they personally would see to it that the expense involved in this trial would be kept reasonable. Judge Carney stated that he does not propose that this trial will be treated in any way other than a murder trial is normally treated. He will not permit unnecessary or obstructive types of newspaper coverage or news media coverage, and he has issued an order to that effect. The Judge gave us a copy of his order which was made on November 15, 1972, and a copy of this order has been received by the Attorney for the Commonwealth and by the Attorney for the defendants on November 15, 1972. Judge Carney has had consultations with these people and has advised them as to how he expects this case to be conducted. The Judge pointed out that he has no control over getting the witnesses in Court, but that he will expect those witnesses in Court when called for. This, of course, will require coordination between the Prosecution and the Defense, and it will be necessary for the District Attorney of Erie County to so schedule the matter that the Commonwealth's case can be presented without the necessity for keeping witnesses any longer than absolutely necessary. The Judge indicated that from his conversation with Mr. Sprague he would anticipate that the trial in the two cases scheduled for Erie will take a little longer than the other trials took. He stated that this would be because it would be necessary here to go into an area of evidence which would require more proof of such a nature that evidence other than the direct admission of the crime might be involved. We had an extensive conversation with the Court on the Court expenses itself. The Court indi- cated, particularly during the initiatory phases of this matter that the Court probably will retain MINUTE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA MICHAEL R. FLYNN, FRANK .ZONES, JR., EDWARD M. PALUSO, COMMISSIONERS a law clerk to aid and assist the Court in making his decisions on motions, etc., which he, anti- cipates will be made prior to the time when the trial begins. It was generally agreed that the need for such a person (Erie does not have one) would be in the most part prior to the time when a trial began because Judge Carney would not need much research during the trial itself. The Judge encouraged communication directly between the Commissioners of Washington County and himself. He directed the Sheriff to set up a security plan for submission to himself, and the Sheriff indicated he did not think it would be necessary for him to hire many deputies for this purpose. In fact, the Sheriff intimated that he felt his staff presently was adequate to do the job. In the event, therefore, that these people will be performing duties which they "nor- mally" would do, this might be a substantial saving to the County in view of the fact that Erie has agreed to assume these "normal" costs. With respect to the need for the hiring of a 11matron, " the Commissioners indicated that they do not pay the same rate that Mr. Murphy said Washington County was paying. In this particu- lar case, because of the circumstances, the Judge stated that it might be necessary to meet this rate. No one seemed to know at the time whether it would be. Commissioner Hill indicates_ that the service would be retained and that they would assume responsibility for it, that they would keep a lid on unnecessary expense with respect to it, and that they would attempt to obtain the services for the same amount of money or less than the amount of money the County has bee:a paying. The Judge agreed that in the event we got into a situation not anticipated in the discussion which he had, that he would keep the County Commissioners advised of what was taking place. In other words, this means that if this trial involves any expense we have not anticipated on the basis of past experience, we will know about it ahead of time, if this is possible. The matter as to the time of billing was discussed. At the suggestion of Mr. Murphy and Mr. Jones, it was decided that this would be on a weekly basis so that neither County would be in a position where the bill would be too high, and both Counties would be in a position where immed- iate action could be taken upon them. The Court suggested that the County Commissioners speak with District Attorney Costa to ascer- tain and/or determine the need for either he or any members of his staff to be in Erie. The Court indicated that it had no idea what those requirements might be and that this should be taken up directly with the District Attorney. The Court also indicated that with respect to the duties of the Washington County Sheriff in the delivery of witnesses and/or prisoners, this should be discussed in depth with the Sheriff and the Commissioners. The Court went on to say that it did not feel that this was any part of its business and that as far as the Erie County Court is concerned, it does not feel that anything other than the trial in Erie County is any of its business and that the Erie County Court will expect all people to be in Court at the time the trial is scheduled to go regardless of whether they are for the Commonwealth or the Defense, and the responsibility of supplying them will lie respectfully upon either the Commonwealth or the Defense. In view of the recent Supreme Court decision making murder a bailable offense, Judge Carney anticipates that there will be some movement on the part of the Attorneys for the Defense to get bail set in Erie County. We suggested that perhaps a setting of bail might be less expen- sive than it would be if we had to house a prisoner up here, but did not go any further than a suggestion. We did not make it a request because Judge Carney indicated he would be looking at the whole thing with a hard eye, and we do not anticipate that the costs of this trial or the publicity of the same or the responsibilities for Washington County will get out of hand. The Controller of Erie County suggested that he come to Washington County to go over the bookE and the method that the Washington County Controller has used to keep control of the expendi- tures to date. The Judge indicated that he would go along with him. It would, therefore, be anticipated that the Controller of Erie County and Judge Carney will be in Washington County some time prior to February for this purpose and for consultation with the Washington County Commissioners. Since the Erie County Commissioners are also involved in this matter in a cooperative effort with Washington County, it might also be anticipated that the Commissioners and/or their staff or some members thereof would come for such a meeting. In conclusion, it was generally agreed that the meeting was very fruitful. There was a free and open exchange of thoughts and ideas on the matter, and it is obvious that Judge Carney has a very good working relationship with the County Commissioners and vice versa. The Erie County Commissioners, County Controller, County Sheriff, and the Court all seemed to be able to work with harmony and with little or no difficulty. We were impressed with this attitude, and we would anticipate that because of this relationship there will be little or no difficulty, -for Erie County to efficiently, yet with justice to the parties involved, conduct this case to a successful conclusion with a mini- mum of time and a minimum of cost and all cost accounted for in a proper manner for the Com- missioners of Washington County. �J C 11 / s / Oliver N. Hormell