Council Ousts Two Sewage Authority Members

Ford City Councilman Lou Vergari (left) defends his position on the Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority. Council voted to advertise for volunteers to take his place and also the place of former Councilman Terry Tokarek.

by David Croyle 

Ford City Borough Council last night terminated the appointment of two individuals on the Ford City Borough Municipal Sewage Disposal Authority after becoming aware that their appointments had allegedly expired.

Council approved the advertisement for interested citizens to serve on Sewage Authority Board that would replace current Council member Lou Vergari and former Council member Terry Tokarek.

Former Councilman Tom Shaffer initiated the inquiry into the expired terms of Vergari and Tokarek.

“According to bylaws, the term of Lou Vergari expired on 2008. Mr. Tokarek was appointed to fulfill the remaining term of Steve Kozuch. Now it should have expired Jan 2009,” Shaffer said. “I sat on Borough Council for two years and we never voted on either Vergari or Tokarek – they are sitting on board illegally. Ron Wojcek has resigned, so there is not even a quorum.”

Since Ron Wojcek’s appointment actually ended last month, Council appointed current Council member Paul Harmon. Without that immediate appointment, the Sewage Authority would not be able to operate due to not having a quorum.  

Tokarek served as President of the Sewage Authority and Vergari was serving as Vice-President. Sewage Authority Solicitor Charles Pascal said that the Board would elect a new president and vice-president at its March 11 meeting at 6PM. Pascal also was concerned about the accuracy of the information.

“There are five members of the board. They serve five year term. Every year, one term should expire,” Pascal said during a telephone interview following the meeting. “It is unclear that those terms have actually expired. No one can point out when they were appointed; therefore we should go back for five or six years in the minutes to understand the progression. There were people appointed to vacancies. That is an unexpired term. It is unclear who took which terms. I trust Council researched it before they made their decision.  They are keepers of the information.” 

Council Solicitor Frank Wolfe agreed with Pascal in principle. “The rule says you appoint and they get a five year term. The problem comes when you are unable to figure out who was appointed to what term. There is an expiration date. It expires the January of that year.”

Shaffer requested the advertisement list eligibility requirements. “An individual must be taxpayer in, maintain business in, or be a citizen of the municipality.  Therefore, a person who owns business in the borough but may not live in borough is eligible.” 

Councilman Ron Dillard suggested the inclusion of Manor Township in the search for volunteer Board members. “Seeing that Manor Township is part of the Sewage Authority, we want to make sure we contact Manor supervisors in case they want to put someone on the Authority.”

Tokarek said he felt Shaffer was attempting to get Manor resident Michael Markilinski to apply. There was no answer for a response from Markilinski before publication.

Persons interested in serving on the Sewage Authority may contact the Ford City Borough office for details on making application.