Aug 12, 2010 By Josh Krysak 3 min read

Uniontown police have filed a citation against a Uniontown City Councilman for failing to comply with the city’s code enforcement ordinance. Uniontown police Chief Jason A. Cox said the citation was filed against Gary Gearing before Magisterial District Judge Michael M. Metros for violating the city’s code ordinance, specifically, a right of entry violation.

Cox said the citation was filed after John Over of K2 Engineering contacted him regarding an incident at Fayette Holdings, formerly the Fayette Bank Building at 52 W. Main St.

K2 Engineering is contracted to enforce the city’s property codes.

According to Cox, Over reported that K2 had attempted to conduct a code enforcement inspection at Fayette Holdings but said that his employees were denied access to much of the building and were unable to complete the inspection.

Cox said Over provided police with a certified letter sent to Gearing regarding the need for the inspection, citing numerous code violations logged at the building in the past as a principal reason for the need to examine the structure on Aug. 4 at 9:30 a.m.

Over also provided police with the receipt signed by Gearing for the certified mail.

Cox said that Frank Monack of K2 Engineering, who was appointed building code official for the city, also provided his inspection report to police, noting that Gearing left him a message the morning of the inspection and said he would be unavailable that morning but would have a representative on site to grant the inspectors access to the building.

Monack said he and code officer Mark Pasquale arrived to conduct the inspection at 9:30 a.m. but were informed by David Wenger, acting as Gearing’s representative, that there were portions of the building they would not be granted access to, Cox said.

As a result of Gearing’s denial of right to access the property, the inspection was then terminated and Uniontown police were contacted to investigate.

Cox said that under the city’s ordinance, K2 Engineering has a right to access the entire building to inspect the property and ensure public safety.

Cox said that he decided to conduct the investigation himself into the complaint from code officials because the violation dealt directly with a city councilman.

“We were approached with the information regarding an alleged violation of city code and I took the appropriate steps to investigate the matter, which resulted in the filing of a citation,” Cox said, noting that he did speak with Gearing prior to filing the citation.

“This is a situation where we are not singling anyone out and simply enforcing the ordinance the city has in place. The law is the law.”

Multiple attempts to reach Gearing for comment regarding the citation were unsuccessful Wednesday.