Monessen upholds firings that brought Sunshine Act lawsuits
MONESSEN – Monessen Council Tuesday upheld firings that resulted in the mayor and the Mon Valley city being sued over alleged Sunshine Act violations.
The motions to ratify and affirm the firings of the former city administrator and solicitor were added to this month’s agenda to address concerns about the public not being informed in advance about the actions, said city solicitor Timothy Witt of Connellsville.
“I thought it best to have all that done,” Witt said Thursday.
He said it may cure the problems that are at the center of the lawsuits filed in Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas.
A local newspaper and city residents sued Mayor Matt Shorraw and the city after he substituted an agenda at the January reorganization meeting with one that hadn’t been shown to the public. His agenda resulted in the former solicitor Joseph Dalfonso and his firm being fired, as well as the previous administrator, Judith Taylor.
Shorraw and two others on council then hired Witt as solicitor and returned former city administrator John Harhai to the job.
Because that business was not listed on the agenda, the public did not have an opportunity to comment under the terms of the state Sunshine Act.
The lawsuits seek to void the motions that passed in January and require the city to attend a class on the requirements of the act.
Westmoreland Judge Harry F. Smail Jr. has scheduled a hearing in the case at 9 a.m. March 20.
Witt said he was unsure how Tuesday’s decisions would influence the court on the issues raised in the lawsuits.