After heavy consideration from the recommendations from the Chief of Police, City Solicitor, and Special Labor Counsel. The Sunbury City Council and I discussed the position of Captain within the Sunbury Police Department due to it being a litigation concern. We weighed our options and decided it was in the best interest for the city of Sunbury and taxpayers to settle the union’s unfair labor practice and remove the “position” of Captain from the ranks at the Sunbury Police Department. The decision was (4 yes) and (1 no).
The position of Captain was removed as part of the settlement terms of an unfair labor practice claim filed against the city last year by the police union. The position was not removed due to the officer that was in the position. It could have been officer A, B, C, or D, it was solely removed due to the settlement terms. Accordingly, everything that came with the rank of Captain was to be dissolved as well. The salary was reduced from a Captains Salary back to a Patrolman’s salary including years of service with all normal pay increases that would have been received.
A Sunburypayroll employee received an email from the Chief of Policeinforming that the Sunbury Captains position has been eliminated by the city and as a result Captain Bennick has been informed that he is to assume his previous rank of patrolman effective immediately.
The Sunbury payroll clerk completed the paperwork for the salary change and it was sent to the Sunbury City Clerk to receive the mayor and the director of accounts and finance signatures.Both Councilwoman Beth Kremer and I signed the payroll change. This was not a decisioninitiated or done on my own or taken lightly.
At no time has there ever been any form of retaliation against officer Bennickfor previouslyarresting me in 2014. He was purely doing his job and fulfilling his duties as a law enforcement officer and still is for the City of Sunbury. In 2014 I wascharged with a misdemeanor count of assault and a summary count of harassment stemming from a physical fight between myself and another individual. The assault charge was dismissed and I was found not guilty of the summary charge.I believe in transparency and on January 9th, 2017 an article was written by the DailyItem by Justin Strawser with information that I released concerning the 2014 arrest and other information so that the public would be informed before the primary election.
I do believe in transparency and I ran my campaign on bringing back a more transparent government. In regards to answering questions and releasing statements and information, we the elected officials do what is in the best interest for the taxpayers and the city of Sunbury. Sometimes it may not seem like we do. But, believe me, we do and that there is a process that we must abide by. Certain information regarding litigation, personnel matters or disciplinary actions should not be discussed until everything is finalized and sometimes never out of respect for all parties involved and to lessen the chance of any future probability of litigation. Yes, there is a right-to-know law in Pennsylvania. Yes, we just had an employee from the Office of Open Records provide a comprehensive three-hour training on the Right to Know Law to approximately 20 City Officials and Employees. It was a very informative session explaining openness in government and it also discussed a number of exceptions to the application of the Right to Know Law. In attendance were City Council Members, the City Clerks, Department Heads, personnel from all City Departments, and myself.
In regards to the external investigation that was ordered in 2017 by previous Mayor David Persing about accusations made against me before I was sworn in as mayor. To the best of my knowledge the external investigation is complete and it has been forwarded to another agency for review and to finalize the last stage of the investigation. I do not and will not know what any of the information within the investigation reveals even in my capacity as mayor, since I was the accusee. The right-to-know request that were submitted to the cityin regards to this external investigation will proceed accordingly to the law.
In regards to Sunbury Officer Steve Mazzeo, he will be coming back to work again. At this time the city will not comment on confidential personnel matters. I look forward to seeing Officer Mazzeo back on the work schedule again.
Respectfully
Mayor Kurt Karlovich