Lower Southampton has taken steps to restrict when a former zoning department employee can visit the township building while state and local investigations into the zoning department’s past practices are ongoing.
The issue was briefly discussed during the board of supervisors meeting Wednesday night, after Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis said that he heard a former employee had been seen in the township building during work hours.
Police Chief Ted Krimmel confirmed that he received reports a former employee was in the building socializing with current employees, and concern was raised whether her presence was appropriate since the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office is investigating past zoning department operations. The state Department of Labor and Industry also is investigating the department’s past permit practices.
Krimmel told the board that he consulted with the chief of Bucks County detectives about the former employee’s presence, and he was advised “it was probably a bad idea she was in this building.” Krimmel added that he planned to send the former employee a letter advising her to avoid the township building unless she was attending a public activity or she was invited for a specific reason.
Krimmel declined to comment further after the board meeting.
Koutsouradis and Krimmel did not identify the employee, but multiple sources familiar with the situation confirmed it is Carol Drioli, who oversaw the department’s zoning department for 17 years before retiring earlier this year.
Reached by phone Thursday, Drioli declined comment.
On Tuesday a reporter with this news organization saw Drioli in the township building talking with employees after leaving an area of the building where the township manager’s office is located.
At Wednesday’s meeting, acting Township Manager Joe Galdo told supervisors that the former employee came to the township building to review an issue with zoning permits, but he was unaware that she was socializing with employees.
“If she was in here, it was for historic value,” Galdo said.
Drioli has been a lightning rod for criticism since the release of an outside consultant’s report that reviewed two years of zoning project records and found an unusual number of common “irregularities” in the records, including misplaced or missing land development plans and “numerous” projects improperly issued permits without going through the land development approval process.
On Thursday, Supervisor Chairman Keith Wesley said that it was his understanding the employee was at the township building to help answer questions about roofing and siding permits.
Earlier this month, Lower Southampton stopped requiring building permits for some home renovations, such as roof replacement, after learning it had been improperly requiring the permits in violation of a 2004 change to the state’s Uniformed Construction Code.
Koutsouradis said Thursday that he is glad the police chief checked with county authorities.
“It baffles me that with a criminal investigation going that primarily deals with our former zoning officer that anyone would have thought it was a good idea to have her enter the township building,” he added.
The township this week also instituted new protocols for township building visitors and had locks changed on doors to the zoning office and hallway leading to the Township Manager’s office. Krimmel had been pushing for sometime to improve employee security.
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