Monessen planning to cease city operations over missing mayor, councilman
Monessen Councilman Anthony W. Orzechowski outlines the plan Thursday to shut down City Hall due to stalled business.
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Scott Beveridge/Observer-Reporter
Former Monessen Mayor Lou Mavrakis expresses frustration Thursday over a standstill at City Hall.
MONESSEN – Monessen is planning to cease operations, including fire and police services, Sunday as the mayor’s absence from council meetings has kept the city from purchasing liability insurance.
Another councilman’s absence along with that of Mayor Matt Shorraw have prevented council from attracting a quorum to meetings since May, creating a stack of unfinished business and unpaid bills.
“The clock is ticking,” Councilman Anthony W. Orzechowski said at another failed attempt Thursday to hold a city council meeting.
“The police department. The fire department. The street crew. This affects the whole town,” Orzechowski said to a packed crowd of residents in City Hall.
Shorraw has said he was not going to attend council meetings until Westmoreland County Court appointed a person to a seat on the board created by the May 28 death of former councilman Ron Chiaravalle.
Meanwhile, Councilman Gil Coles hasn’t attended a council meeting since February without citing a reason for his absences.
Wednesday was the deadline for council to replace Chiaravalle. On Thursday, Shorraw and Coles submitted one petition to the court nominating former state Rep. Ted Harhai, a Monessen Democrat, for the vacant seat on council, court records show.
The city also filed a petition that day listing 11 names of qualified residents, including Harhai and Chiaravalle’s widow, Marcia K. Chiaravalle.
The court has yet to schedule a hearing to consider the applications, city solicitor Joseph Dalfonso said.
Shorraw was elected to office in November, promising an increase in transparency at City Hall and insisting he wasn’t bound to an administration led by former mayor Mary Jo Smith, who worked for Harhai.
Orzechowski said Shorraw’s decision to nominate Harhai for the vacant seat appeared to show the mayor has an agenda.
The city needs a quorum of three members to pay a broker to reach a new contract by Sunday for liability and property insurances at a cost of $69,293, city records indicate. The insurance covering the fire department needed to be secured on the same day in the amount of $12,865.
“It’s not going to happen,” Orzechowski said. “I don’t have any more answers.”
Monessen asked the fire department in neighboring Belle Vernon to answer calls in the city during the shut down.
State police will be answering calls for the city police department, Orzechowski said.
Shorraw and Coles have the opportunity to attend an emergency meeting before Sunday to contract for the insurances, Dalfonso said.
Shorraw said this week he believed the insurances can be paid without a vote under the terms of budget line items.
“This dictates that the payment may be sent without a vote of council,” Shorraw stated in an email.
He said he also made a motion via email to council to pay the insurance, that Coles offered the second in an email.
The remaining two councilman, he said, refused to act on his email conversation.
Dalfonso said Thursday it’s illegal for council to vote outside of a public meeting in an email on city business.
“If we conducted business via email none of you would know,” Dalfonso said.
The other names before the court for the vacant seat on council are: Tina O’Dell, former councilman John Nestor, the Rev. William C. Bass Sr., former councilman Ed Lea, local library officer John Golomb, Dominic F. Zboyovsky, Donald Rattay, Darryl Ray and Steve Gaydos.