Lawsuit filed against Connellsville by the Greater Connellsville Area Community Center
Amy Fauth | Herald-Standard
An attorney for the Greater Connellsville Area Community Center has claimed that 2016 amendments to its bylaws giving the City of Connellsville control of the center are “unenforceable.”
Lincoln
An attorney for the Greater Connellsville Area Community Center has claimed that 2016 amendments to its bylaws giving the City of Connellsville control of the center are “unenforceable.”
Attorney Thomas B. Earheart, representing the GCACC, filed a complaint asking for injunctive relief, claiming breach of contract and asking a Fayette County judge to award punitive damages.
The suit alleged that when the city took over control of the community center in 2016, the GCACC board got advice from city solicitor Tim Witt. Earheart claimed when Witt advised the board to amend its bylaws, he never told board members they were amending “controlling and operating documents” for the center.
Those amendments, Earheart claimed, “forever intertwined the City of Connellsville with the business and financial affairs of the GCACC even though no such connection had ever existed or been intended.”
He also claimed that an amendment of the GCACC’s bylaws had to be approved by two-thirds of the board, but was considered approved by a 2-2 vote.
Earheart claimed that revision and amendment altered significant portions of the bylaws including the center’s corporate purpose, appointment of members and bylaw amendment procedures.
In a statement read at city council’s meeting Tuesday, Mayor Greg Lincoln said the city is thoroughly reviewing the allegations made in the complaint.
“On its initial reviews, the city’s action was to protect the Community Center and the interests of the public,” Lincoln said. “The city intends to fully defend against these allegations and finds it unfortunate that persons claiming to support our community would now seek to attack it at a cost to the taxpayers.”
The city had control of the GCACC until last October, when council voted to lease the Fairview Avenue center to Connellsville Area Community Ministries (CACM).
Earheart contended the public was not given notice that council was considering terminating the lease with GCACC, alleging that violated the Sunshine Act.
He also indicated that the city and GCACC had a five-year lease that was signed in February 2016, putting the city in breach of contract when they terminated it. The suit noted that the board at GCACC brought in and maintained tenants who provided services like home health, day care, counseling and free art classes.
The board also spent more than $60,000 received in rent and took out a loan to maintain the building, the suit noted.
“The GCACC was not given the fair opportunity to fully implement its five-year plan for the Community Center building even though the GCACC had introduced many programs and services and spent significant funds on maintenance,” Earheart wrote.
He also contended that because CACM is a religious organization, putting the organization in charge of a public community center violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
In addition to asking a judge to set aside the 2016 bylaw amendment, the filing also asks that the city be forced to return the GCACC’s tax records and validate a 2019 bylaw amendment by the remaining three members of the GCACC’s board removing the city from controlling the center’s future.