Photo by Joseph Bell
Ridgway Township Municipal Authority board members discussed several legal issues last night during their regularly-scheduled meeting.

Talady addresses long-standing litigation with Route 120 case.

By Joseph Bell

Staff Writer

Solicitor Matt Taladay shed light on several legal issues last night during the Ridgway Township Municipal Authority’s monthly meeting.
Concerning the authority’s long-standing litigation with residents living along state Route 120, Taladay reported that a decision will not be reached any time soon.
“An amended complaint was filed and we re-filed preliminary objections asking the court to dismiss the complaint because it was essentially a rehash of the other complaint that the court dismissed, and also because it was filed beyond the time period that the court alloted for the amended complaint,” Taladay said. “I expect that we will receive an argument date and the court will make a decision.
“Based on the fact that the court is extremely busy, I would not expect a decision until the end of this year or the beginning of next year.”
The board members also discussed negotiations with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regarding chlorine byproduct testing.
“I’ve been in contact with the attorneys from DEP regarding the chlorine byproduct matter and we have several proposed dates for meetings in mid-November,” Taladay said. “I will confirm the availability of the engineer and the chairperson, and we hope to establish a date within the next day or so.
“The meeting will take place in Meadville and DEP will have its counsel present.”
The authority also addressed its lack of an open records policy during a lengthy executive session.
“It’s the adoption of an open records policy to handle requests for public documents under the open records law,” Taladay said. “I passed out for review by the board a draft of the proposed open records resolution.
“It is my understanding that the board will review it and discuss it at the next meeting.”
Pennsylvania government has an open records law in effect and the law contains several factors, according to Taladay.
“For purposes of clarification, Pennsylvania does have an open records law that spells out the methods by which any public body should handle written requests for information, the timeframe in which the response must be given, the price structure for paying for the requests and various other factors like that,” Taladay said. “The proposed resolution is in compliance with the current open records law but there are several factors that the board needs to consider when adopting its own resolution.”
Regarding personnel issues, chairman Ed LaValle announced that Christopher Klase, a township resident residing along Montmorenci Road, will undergo a trial period to become an assistant to works superintendent Carl Gosnell.
“We looked at a lot of applications, over 60 applications, and his qualifications were pretty decent compared to everyone else that we looked at,” Taladay said. “Computer-wise, electrical, he knows carpentry. Out of the 60 applications, we had a lot of truck drivers.
“When Carl (Gosnell) took over, his qualifications were zilch to none, too, and now he knows the whole system. (Klase) is on a trial basis, he doesn’t get the job right away.”
According to LaValle, Klase is to start officially on Nov. 16.