The Mayor of Butler has filed an ethics complaint against three city council members alleging a violation of the Sunshine Act.
Tom Donaldson filed the complaint against councilmembers Kathy Kline, Michael Walter, and Corey Roche with the Butler County District Attorney’s Office, who then reportedly passed an investigation onto the state Attorney General’s office.
“I have no objection to their action,” Donaldson said in an interview Wednesday. “I have an objection to the fact that it has never been approved in a public meeting and that they spent city money without authorization. This is knowledgeably wrong. I have consulted people, talked to my own attorney about it, talked to other elected officials in confidence. Everybody says the same thing, you can’t do this. This is why we have law.”
The complaint is in regards to actions taken over the past two months following the filing of a lawsuit by the mayor against those council members and the city. According to the Mayor, those council members met privately in December and entered into an agreement concerning legal counsel without approval in a public meeting.
“It was on the advice of the solicitor so that we could meet because we were in litigation and after the meeting, we decided that we would go with Leo Stepanian but it wasn’t a real meeting per se, it was just after the city council meeting,” Councilman Corey Roche said in an interview Wednesday.
Donaldson filed a lawsuit in December against those three council members and the city over the promotions approved for city firefighters who did not first complete civil service tests. He is asking for the decision to be reversed and for reimbursement for his attorney fees and costs in bringing forward the suit, as well as any other relief the court deems proper.
Written By: Ryan Saeler for the Butler Radio Network
