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Township officials' expenses disputed: Ethics panel appears to be looking into Upper Macungie spending.
(Morning Call, The (Allentown, PA) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) May 14--Two Upper Macungie Township supervisors admit that some expenses they charged to the township over the past five years were questionable, and their actions appear to have sparked an investigation by the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission.
Vincent J. Dopko, the Ethics Commission's chief counsel, would not confirm or deny there is an investigation, but Supervisor Chairman Porter E. Krisher and Secretary-Treasurer Thomas C. Gorr both discussed the probe in interviews.
The allegations came to light because Gorr's opponent in the 2005 election, Christopher T. Casey, referred to the commission's investigation on his campaign Web site.
Krisher and Gorr said that certain expenses, such as buying breakfast or lunch for employees to show appreciation for snow-plowing efforts or charging Krisher's wife's expenses at an April 2004 convention, could be ruled as unjustified by the commission.
Casey, a Democrat running for a state House seat this year against incumbent Republican Douglas G. Reichley of the 134th District, also questioned the propriety of Krisher's son, a township employee, renting a township-owned house on Schantz Road for $300 a month plus utilities. The commission also asked about that issue, Gorr said.
The house, with a market value estimated by Lehigh County assessors at $108,200, normally would rent for significantly more in the Lehigh Valley market.
Gorr and Krisher acknowledge the rent is low, but say that is because Krisher's son, Douglas Krisher, helps keep an eye on an adjacent township park, in effect providing a service to the township, and that parts of the house are in poor condition.
Referring to the credit-card spending, Gorr and Krisher conceded that the commission might rule that some township money was misspent.
"Should we not have bought some dinners for employees, not taken the guys out for breakfast … [or] not done some other things for employees? That's possible," Krisher said. "If someone's going to tell you 'You shouldn't do that,' so be it. But when all is said and done, I don't think there's going to be much there."
A file folder provided by Gorr contained hundreds of credit-card expense statements, some with handwritten notations to indicate what the spending was for -- "room at convention" for a hotel bill, "Easter egg hunt" for supplies at a local grocery store, "breakfast for road crew, snowstorm" on a bill from a township diner. In many cases, the bills list only the place of purchase and item numbers for the merchandise, without identifying the products.
In addition, Krisher charged the taxpayers not only for his own expenses but for those of his wife at an April 2004 convention for municipal officials and firefighting professionals near Orlando, Fla. When asked about the matter, Gorr said Frances Krisher's expenses from that total $651.31 billing should have been paid separately by the Krishers.
"We know that now," said Gorr, a former administrator for Lehigh County and for the Saucon Valley School District.
Krisher also acknowledged that in retrospect, he should have paid personally for his wife's expenses.
Gorr declined to speculate on how much, if any, of the credit-card spending might have to be repaid, pending any conclusions or recommendations from the Ethics Commission.
He estimated that the three employees who possess township credit cards -- Public Works Director Scott Faust is the third -- together charged about $30,000 in total expenses to the cards from 2001 through last year. That would be about $2,000 per year, per person.
Faust, an appointed employee, is not a subject of the investigation, Gorr said, nor is the third supervisor, Republican Edward J. Earley Jr., who does not have a township credit card. Earley said he doesn't need one.
Gorr said all of the payments were reviewed and approved by the three-member board of supervisors -- including himself and Krisher -- at the regular monthly public meetings.
Lawmakers and employees
In second-class townships including Upper Macungie, the three elected supervisors serve dual roles as legislators and administrators, and they can be full- or part-time employees as well.
In Upper Macungie, Gorr is a full-time employee as secretary-treasurer, handling many budgetary and administrative functions. He is paid $31 per hour on an assumed 40-hour work week, and on that basis earned $64,480 last year, said township Treasurer Barry Moyer. Each supervisor also receives a stipend of $3,250 per year for attending supervisors' meetings, he said.
Krisher and Earley are part-time employees. Krisher, who supervises the road crews, public works and parks, and does administrative work, earned $23,242 last year based on his hours submitted, Moyer said, and Earley, who handles the township's Web site development, newsletter and administrative tasks, made $8,045.
Gorr and Krisher said Casey spurred the Ethics Commission investigation for purely political purposes.
"He has an ax to grind," Gorr said.
Casey said the two supervisors can make all the excuses they want, but he believes they've been operating on the fringes of public accountability for years.
Laptop purchase
A Republican and 12-year incumbent, Gorr defeated Casey, a Democratic newcomer, 1,372 to 1,022, in 2005.
In an interview, Casey said the commission is investigating the two supervisors, and he refers to the investigation on his Web site,
http://www.caseyforumt.com .
Casey said the commission had sent him two letters telling him to not comment on the investigation and he makes note of this on his Web site.
But in the interview, Casey said Gorr and Krisher "used township credit cards for things they're not supposed to," such as a laptop computer for Gorr.
Gorr defended the computer purchase, saying he bought a $1,500 laptop, but it is for use by himself and other township employees to conduct township business -- taking work home, for example. The computer was not in Gorr's office when a reporter visited recently because it was being used by township police at a seminar, he said.
Meal purchase unusual
Elam Herr, assistant executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Township Supervisors, said it's not unusual for municipal officials and employees to be issued credit cards for public purchases. In fact, credit-card records can make it easier to monitor spending.
"It's another type of tracking system that the municipality is using," he said.
But Herr said to his experience, purchasing meals for township employees is not a routine use for municipal credit cards in other townships.
"I have not heard of that," he said. Usually the cards are utilized "for purchases of materials and supplies" directly for municipal use, he said. "But I don't know what restrictions are" for use of the cards in Upper Macungie, he said.
Gorr said no written policy exists for use of the cards in Upper Macungie.
House acquired a decade ago
The other issue Casey raised on his Web site concerns Krisher's son, Douglas Krisher, renting the township-owned house at 6510 Schantz Road.
Porter Krisher, a supervisor since 1992, said he did not intervene when his son was hired by the township eight or 10 years ago.
Krisher said his son drives trucks and operates heavy equipment, and had considerable experience in the construction field when hired by the township.
Gorr and Krisher said the township bought the house at 6510 Schantz Road about a decade ago to improve ambulance and fire protection in the area. A 1992 consultant's study recommended as much, they said, and the house was to be demolished to make room for public-safety building.
But the building plan took far longer than expected, and in the meantime, officials decided to rent the house, along with another one next door that the township purchased about a year later. The houses were publicly advertised for rent, Krisher said, though he couldn't provide any record of that. His son rented one of them, and another township employee unrelated to any supervisor rented the other home.
Casey suggests the monthly rent paid by Douglas Krisher, $300 plus utilities, is well below market value. But Gorr and Porter Krisher said that Douglas Krisher's ability to keep watch on adjacent township property to help prevent vandalism prompted the low rental fee. And Porter Krisher added that the house has a dirt basement that is virtually unusable.
$300 rent a 'bargain'
Gorr conceded that the rent has not been increased over the years, and acknowledged that perhaps it should have been. But the emergency-services plan has progressed to the point where construction could begin next year, and the younger Krisher's rented home will be torn down.
"In the next month or so, he's going to have to move," Porter Krisher said.
Purchased by the township in July 1997 for $140,000, the 21/2-story single home and 1.43-acre lot are appraised by Lehigh County at $108,200.
The public-safety building to be built there would serve as home for an ambulance and a fire truck possibly operated by Cetronia Ambulance Corps and Cetronia Fire Company, respectively, Gorr said.
Lehigh Valley Planning Commission senior planner Dave Berryman said it's difficult to estimate rental prices for individual properties in the abstract. However, when he heard a description of 6510 Schantz Road, even with the dirt basement, the $300 monthly rate produced a gasp of disbelief.
"Three hundred?" he asked, adding, "That's a bargain," and noting that to his experience, not as a planner but as a homeowner, even townhouses in townships such as Upper Macungie and Lower Macungie can run in the $1,300 to $1,500 per month range.
The house at 6576 Schantz Road, next to Douglas Krisher's, is rented to Patricia A. Smith, a township clerical worker, for $600 plus utilities, Gorr said. Purchased by the township for $131,500 in September 1998, that house, appraised by the county at $133,300, is in better condition, Gorr said.
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