Records: Lower Southampton board member voted for payment to employer

Posted Feb. 14, 2019

A Lower Southampton supervisor approved a $17,500 payment to his employer for work performed in the township four years ago, the latest revelation involving previously undisclosed hiring now under a state investigation.

Keith Wesley

Former Supervisor Chairman Keith Wesley voted to authorize the payments to his employer, Hoffman Services Inc. of Newark, New Jersey, at a June 24, 2015, Board of Supervisors meeting, this news organization has confirmed through documents obtained under the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act and supervisor meeting minutes.

The payments were among bills requiring supervisor approval and included in the consent agenda, which are items that don’t require a public discussion before a vote. Consent agenda items typically include previous board meeting minutes and accounts payable.

A copy of the meeting minutes show the five supervisors unanimously approved the consent agenda, details of which board members receive in document packages prior to meetings.

Under state ethics law, elected public officials must recuse themselves from participating in votes or discussions where conflicts of interest exist with immediate family members or employers.

Last month, the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission opened an investigation into the hiring of Hoffman Services to replace a broken vehicle lift at the township’s Public Works Department garage and other work, after a resident filed a complaint citing a potential conflict of interest. Wesley is a senior service technician responsible for sales and services at Hoffman Services, where he has worked since 2009.

This news organization was unsuccessful in reaching Wesley for comment through text and voicemail messages and email on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. He left Wednesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting before a reporter in attendance could speak with him.

Wesley has insisted that he was not involved in the Hoffman Services contract, did not benefit from it, and had asked the public works department head not to use his employer for the vehicle lift replacement.

In previous cases, the ethics commission has ruled it is a violation of the Ethics Act if a public official takes action to approve a bill list that includes a payment to a business with which he or she is associated, according to Robert P. Caruso, executive director of the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission.

“Lack of knowledge is not always a valid defense,” Caruso said.

Caruso added that public officials are “always” cautioned to avoid participation in matters that would affect an immediate family member or employer, though there may be occasions when a matter may be too minor to merit consideration, he said.

Meeting minutes show that Wesley did not attend an April 12, 2017, Board of Supervisors meeting where the board approved a consent agenda that included a $220 bill for Hoffman Services for materials involving the vehicle lift.