Threat prompted treasurer to cut hours
This is in response to recent political attacks formed by two members of council, Connellsville Mayor Judy Reed, Judy Keller and the controller. I believe it is necessary to address their allegations and to set the record straight. The Connellsville city treasury does not have hours posted that indicate evening or Saturday morning hours. This feature was eliminated upon the conclusion of the 2001 calendar year.
An incident occurred on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2001, wherein Fire Chief Joe Childs came to the city treasury and threatened to kill me. Childs chased me to the police station, which was where I moved for protection.
Childs threatened to kill me in the police station and in the presence of a police officer. I took this threat on my life seriously. Charges were filed and Childs admitted his guilt and paid a fine before District Justice Robert Breakiron, Bullskin Township.
This was something that I had to evaluate and weigh as to the safety of remaining open during evenings and Saturday mornings when no one else was in the building.
Since 1997, I had provided seven additional hours each week for taxpayers who wanted to make in-person payments and could not make the normal business hours.
My thought was if a fire chief, who every little child looks up to, could storm into the building and chase me to the police station, and in the presence of a police officer, threaten to kill me, just how safe is it to remain open after normal business hours?
I believe that the decision to eliminate evening and Saturday morning hours based on this kind of occurrence is prudent.
There is no way to monitor or control individuals who may enter a public building. There is no security guard or metal detector at city hall. Individuals enter and exit unchecked.
I wish that circumstances were different but when someone threatens to kill you it is a serious offense and can never be taken lightly or shrugged off.
There are many cases across the country and in Pennsylvania where irate employees killed other workers. Since Sept. 11, 2001, a person cannot take anything for granted.
Therefore, the allegation that the city treasurer is unavailable during posted evening and weekend hours is inaccurate. If you take the time to review a tax bill you will easily recognize this and see the posted office hours. This is their first untruth.
The previous administration did not take any action against fire chief Childs for his flagrant act of threatening to kill me. Childs holds a public position as well. Is this a way for a fire chief to conduct himself? No. At the time, Judy Reed was the director of Health and Public Safety, his supervisor.
She did nothing. Moreover, Reed has not responded to a memo that I forwarded on Dec. 28, 2001. Following the first Monday in January 2002 she became mayor. Reed had campaigned on bringing justice to the city and ending corruption. Her first act as mayor was the very thing that she proclaimed to abhor.
She not only did nothing to Childs but she covered up what he had done. She hid it from her monthly report and she hid it from public scrutiny. Why? The answer is politics. She could care less about corruption when it involves friends or political lackeys.
Citizens of Connellsville beware – for I am an elected official and I can’t fight city hall when someone threatens to kill me. Can you imagine what these people (Reed, Keller, and Wrote) will do to any citizen?
The three have initiated a political attack on me like has never been seen before. This dates back to 1995 when I discovered and exposed Jean Wrote and Herb Wrote not conducting their respective offices as accounts and finance director and treasurer in a proper manner.
Specifically, Herb Wrote would funnel only enough money over to the council in an amount that was just sufficient to cover the bills and payroll. At which time, Jean Wrote would announce a spending freeze was necessary because there was no money. But there was money. Her designed purpose was to control all departments and with the treasurer being related to her she was able to pull off the masquerade, or at least until she was caught.
When I discovered it I had numerous conversations with both of them; however, to no success.
In fact, they turned it into an issue of investments, but it was really a matter of not properly reporting all revenues. Investing was secondary. (Meeting minutes from May/June 1995 contain this evidence.)
Finally, any time a councilperson has asked me to sign something or handle something I have completed it.
Politics of attacking and degrading must cease, and the primary order of business with respect to making the city of Connellsville a better place to live and work must begin.
I have always been willing to work with every administration that I have served with, but the three members of this administration offer nothing original, true or positive. They offer nothing inspiring. Everything they do is based on fear.
Their slogan might as well be “all we have to offer is fear itself.”
Art Cappella is the Connellsville treasurer.