State Ethics Commission: supt. borrowed school district equipment for personal use

The state Ethics Commission required a former superintendent of the Belle Vernon Area School District to pay $1,250 after an investigation showed he borrowed district equipment and a power tool for personal use in violation of district policy.
John D. Wilkinson, who began working as the top administrative official in Belle Vernon in 2012, voluntarily resigned from his post May 7, 2018.
As part of a consent agreement reached last month, Wilkinson was directed to pay $1,000 to the state and Ethics Commission, plus $250 as part of the investigative and administrative costs.
Belle Vernon Area owned a “cut-off saw,” which is used on asphalt, concrete, brick or metal, a portable generator and an electrically-powered cement mixer, which Wilkinson personally used, according to the Ethics Commission.
Although district policy prohibits staff and students from removing school equipment for personal use, Wilkinson’s text messages in 2017 revealed otherwise, according to ethics commission findings released Thursday.
Buildings and grounds employees frequently had to ask the superintendent to return the equipment because it was needed to perform tasks within the school district, according to the commission.
Wilkinson kept the saw for at least 27 days; a local rental agency would charge $180 per week, plus an additional amount for rental of the saw blade.
The generator, according to the ethics commission, was in Wilkinson’s possession for a six-day period during which he hosted a Christmas party for school directors and district employees. Renting a generator would have cost $55 per day.
The superintendent never received board approval for personal use of the equipment, according to the ethics commission’s findings.
A second issue that arose centered on technical violations of the Ethics Act.
Each year, as a public employee, Wilkinson was required to file a statement of financial interest form.
But he failed to report the school district as a source of income in the required paperwork in 2014 and 2016 through 2018, deficiencies that were noted during a compliance review.
The act requires disclosure of income of $1,300 or more. When he left the district, his salary was about $153,000, according to published news articles. At the time, he was a Peters Township resident, and his previous position was assistant superintendent in Baldwin-Whitehall School District.
As part of the consent agreement, Wilkinson was to amend his statements of financial interest and add a missing date for the 2014 form.
A third subject of the ethics investigation centered on allegations that “Wilkinson violated sections … of the Ethics Act when he used the authority of his public position” for his own benefit, directing subordinate staff to repair his personal vehicle using district supplies and tools.
Wilkinson asserted he never directed or authorized the employee to do this, and he claimed that any work on his personal vehicle was to be performed on the employee’s personal time.
The ethics commission determined there was no violation of the Ethics Act in allowing subordinate staff to repair his privately-owned vehicle, and that the monetary value was trivial.
The ethics case was docketed in 2019 and decided Oct. 28, with a decision mailed Nov. 2. Wilkinson was given 30 days to comply, according Nicholas A. Colafella, chairman of the six-member Ethics Commission.
On the Ethics Commission’s website, the Wilkinson matter is listed as a “final adjudication.”
Wilkinson could not be reached for comment by phone Thursday afternoon.