MEDIA – An Upper Darby Township councilman has filed litigation against his colleagues on that governing body and the township, seeking a declaratory judgment that its recent actions to remove the Chief Administrative Officer from office and subsequently, from a public meeting, constitute Sunshine Act violations.
Andrew Hayman of Drexel Hill filed suit in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on July 14 versus Brian Burke, Laura Wentz, Matt Silva, Meaghan Wagner, Lisa Faraglia, Brian Andruszko and Upper Darby Township.
The Sunshine Act ensures transparency by mandating, except for a limited group of exemptions, that “every portion of every meeting of an agency shall be open to public observation.”
“At the regular scheduled Township Council meeting on June 15, 2022, it was announced by defendant Wentz that the Township had filed a declaratory judgment action in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, seeking a judgment to declare that Chief Administrative Officer Vincent Rongione had forfeited his office and was no longer employed by the Township. Plaintiff Councilman Hayman had no knowledge of the declaratory judgment action until defendant Wentz made this announcement,” the suit says.
“No action had ever been taken in public at a Township Council meeting authorizing the filing of the declaratory judgment action. Councilman Hayman had not even been provided notice that any discussion of litigation was scheduled. Councilman Hayman was never advised nor consulted on the decision to file the declaratory judgment action.”
According to the suit, the six defendants never provided any notice to the other five members of the Township Council that they were deliberating on and/or instructing the attorney to file a declarative judgment action; no agenda was ever published on the Upper Darby Township website, nor in the Township Building which indicated that any vote would ever be taken to authorize a declaratory judgment action, and no announcement was ever made at a public meeting that an executive session was held, regarding the litigation against Rongione.
“Plaintiff Councilman Hayman was never advised of any executive session. A review of the docket shows that on or about June 7, 2022, an attorney purporting to represent the Township filed a declaratory judgment action. In the same June 15, 2022 meeting, defendants committed a second violation of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Defendant Faraglia made a motion to require that CAO Vincent Rongione log off from the Zoom platform and leave the meeting,” the suit states.
“Defendant Wagner seconded the motion and all six defendants voted in favor of the motion to illegally ban Rongione from the meeting. Rongione is a resident of Upper Darby Township, was not disruptive and merely observed the public meeting.”
For multiple counts of violating the Sunshine Act, the plaintiff is seeking a judgment declaring the actions of the Upper Darby Township Council to be in violation of the Act and the referral of this matter to the District Attorney for prosecution as a summary offense, with fines in the amount of $4,000 against each individual defendant and order that defendants shall pay plaintiff’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.
The plaintiff is representing himself in this matter.
The defendants have not yet secured legal counsel.
Delaware County Court of Common Pleas case CV-2022-005010
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com