Councilman David Croyle voiced opposition to Wilbur Stitt’s motion to dissolve the policy that prohibited favoring the hiring of family members of Borough employees.
Kittanning Borough Council voted last night to eliminate its policy regarding the hiring of relatives of Borough employees.
The motion was made by Personnel Chairman Wilbur Stitt, who was very evasive in presenting the motion.
“I need a motion to dissolve Resolution 215 (of) 1986 which pertains to employers - us hiring - a form of hiring practice and how we do it,” Stitt motioned, which was seconded by Councilman Andy Peters.
Councilman David Croyle called for discussion before the vote and voiced his opposition.
“This is a nepotism policy that tries to safeguard the Borough in workplace issues. (Although) it’s been in effect since 1986, it hasn’t been followed by every council unfortunately. I am going on record that I am totally against dissolving it. What we are saying to the public is ‘don’t bother to put in your application; we are going to hand-pick whoever we want, and make it happen’. To eliminate it is absolutely going in the wrong direction.”
Councilman Dr. Gerald Shuster disagreed, calling Croyle’s assessment “cavalier”.
The motion passed with Croyle, and Councilwomen Betsy Wilt and Kim Fox voting against the motion. Shuster, Peters, Stitt, and Councilman Angelo Turco passed it with the majority of votes.
Elimination of the policy now clears the way for those with power on Council to favor a family member or friend of a person now employed by the Borough, giving them preferential treatment.
Nice try David Croyle, Kim Fox and Betsy Wilt - thank you.
Look no further than the school district for nepotism if you want to see it to the nth degree. That should have been your example of why you needed to retain the 1986 resolution.
Unique comment “,who was very evasive in presenting the motion,” Perhaps there was some infraction of the Sunshine law discussion by those wanting to eliminate the resolution?
The townspeople need to clean up that council with the power of their vote.