Lower Southampton supervisors agreed to begin the process of a deeper dive into the township’s zoning department operations, including financial records, following an hour of nonstop grilling from residents demanding the board take action Wednesday night.
“Somebody should be held accountable,” said John McDermott, who was among more than a dozen residents to speak. “Maybe it’s time to clean house. Maybe this is a wake-up call.”
Resident Marge McCurdy urged the board to go through the records of recently retired zoning officer Carol Drioli “with a fine tooth comb.”
“The residents of Lower Southampton are tired of corruption,” she said. “Let’s see what else is going on.”
Drioli, who headed the department for 16 years, has become a lightning rod for resident anger following the release last month of an outside consultant’s review of zoning department operations under her direction. She did not attend the Wednesday meeting.
The Keystone Municipal Services report, which reviewed two years of subdivision and land development files as well as permits, found an unusual number of common “irregularities” in the records, including misplaced or missing land development plans, missing inspector signatures, missing inspection reports, missing permit applications and “numerous” projects improperly issued permits without going through the land development approval process.
A municipality is required to keep records of the inspections that are performed as part of the permitting process to ultimately receive a Certificate of Occupancy, according to Lindsay Bracale, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, which oversees regulation of the state’s construction code.
All records must be retained for the life of the building, said Bracale, who added the department has the authority to investigate code officials for improper enforcement of the Uniform Construction Codes.
Following an hour of public comment, the board voted 5-0 to authorize its professional staff to prepare bid specifications for a look back into more than seven years of zoning permit and subdivision and land development records, as well as the fees and escrows for projects with at least a $50,000 cost. The specifications will be presented to the board for consideration before they are put out for potential bids.
Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis had first recommended including financial records in the new review after he learned from zoning department employees that Drioli reportedly failed to follow the township’s fee schedule multiple times, something she did not have authority to do.
Koutsouradis said Zoning Officer William Oettinger, who replaced Drioli after she retired earlier this year, provided him documents that show at least six times Drioli gave applicants discounted fees for permits or did not require escrow. Escrow is used to pay for township services, such as engineering and legal costs, associated with reviewing subdivision and land development plans.
“Carol, if you are listening, why?” Koutsouradis said into the TV camera filming the meeting. “Tell us? Did someone direct you (to make the changes)?”
Other supervisors agreed that a further analysis was warranted, but as township officials they need to consider the cost for taxpayers. The further probe is expected to be expensive, mostly because of poor record keeping in the department.
“We all know you want this accountability. ... We want the same things you want,” supervisor Ed Shannon said. “We’re not the bad guys.”
Supervisor Chairman Keith Wesley again reminded the standing-room-only crowd of at least 30 people that it was the board that authorized the Keystone review to look at department policies and procedures with a new department head coming on the job.
“We wanted this,” Wesley said.
But the supervisors’ words did little to calm the crowd, which frequently yelled out and interrupted board members. Some audience members shouted that the board only authorized the review at the insistence of Oettinger.
“He asked for it,” shouted resident Scott Russell, referring to Oettinger. “And you obliged.”
One resident, who said he was attending only the second supervisors meeting in 30 years, pulled a dollar out of his pocket, approached Wesley and asked him to read what was on the back.
“In God We Trust,” Wesley replied.
The man then threw the dollar at Wesley and told him to keep it.
“Things better start changing,” he said before returning to his seat. “When you guys go home tonight and look at yourselves in the mirror, I hope to God you say, God help me, God help me to do the right thing.”
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