April 25, 2024

The Chadds Ford Township Republican Party sent a message Monday saying an “official ethics inquiry” has been launched into conduct by Board of Supervisors’ Chairman Samantha Reiner. The message came from GOP leader Mary Kot, who declined to comment when Chadds Ford Live contacted her.

The matter arose again during the April 24 Board of Supervisors’ workshop.

Questions of ethics violations revolve around two years when Reiner billed the township more than $30,000 in consulting fees for work involving contract negotiations and other matters.

Mike Maddren, township solicitor, said he has not received any official notice of an inquiry but, if any official inquiry is made, it would be by the state Ethics Commission. (Chadds Ford Live contacted the commission on the matter and commission Executive Director Mary Fox said she could not comment because of privacy issues.)

Township resident Mark Stookey brought up the matter Wednesday night saying he discovered possible violations after getting responses from multiple Right-to-Know requests, referred to as RTKs.

“I found what I believe are numerous unresolved conflicts of interest and violations of the Pennsylvania Ethics Act and the Second Class Township Code,” he said.

The invoices he saw from those RTK requests “indicate Ms. Reiner received approximately $32,000 for consulting from mid-2021 until the end of last year. Originally, her consulting was portrayed as a way for the township to save money by her conducting storm sewer inspections and negotiating the contract with Verizon.”

Stookey said most of the money was for other things, such as Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors work.

“On at least two occasions, Ms. Reiner billed the township for her attendance at or preparation for Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor meetings — work that is clearly the responsibility of an elected supervisor,” Stookey said. “Ms. Reiner double dipped…I believe this was unethical and, presumably, it was also illegal.”

Stookey spoke for nearly 10 minutes on the subject, citing other examples of what he considers unethical or inappropriate dealings, including two dozen instances of double dipping.

It was apparent to members of the audience that the board anticipated Stookey’s comments.

Even before Stookey started speaking, Maddren said he had a hunch about what Stookey would say and had already advised the board to not comment in response.

In addition, former Supervisor Noelle Barbone and former Township manager Maryann Furlong were on hand to defend Reiner.

Furlong said she is “extremely comfortable that on the advice of our counselor, on the advice of our auditor that every required step I was aware of, or made aware of, in the hiring of Samantha Reiner as a special consultant to do some specific things” was proper.

Among Stookey’s other allegations is that Reiner signed checks payable to herself.

“The township requires two signatures on all checks. However, Ms. Reiner was a signer for nearly all of the township checks issued to herself as a consultant, which effectively negates the two-signature requirement.”

In her defense of Reiner, Barbone said it made sense to hire Reiner to do ordinance reviews because that would be a long process, and hiring an outside professional would cost more than what they could pay Reiner.

Barbone and former Supervisor Frank Murphy, who died in January, hired Reiner to do the job.

“There was no deliberate attempt to violate any ethics, to do anything fraudulent, or misappropriate money. I was a signature on all of those checks,” Barbone said. “Frank and I signed them in the beginning and then Frank became very sick, and he was absent for about 18 months and didn’t resign. So for two supervisors’ signatures, Reiner had to sign.”

It is unclear how an inquiry would proceed and whether there would be any penalty if an ethics violation is discovered.

According to The Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission: “Any person who obtains financial gain from violating any provision of this chapter, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, shall pay a sum of money equal to three times the amount of the financial gain resulting from such violation into the State Treasury or the treasury of the political subdivision. Treble damages shall not be assessed against a person who acted in good faith reliance on the advice of legal counsel.”

Under the section “Restricted Activities” it says:

“No public official or public employee or his spouse or child or any business in which the person or his spouse or child is associated shall enter into any contract valued at $500 or more with the governmental body with which the public official or public employee is associated…unless the contract has been awarded through an open and public process, including prior public notice and subsequent public disclosure of all proposals considered and contracts awarded.”