Tempers between Bristol Borough Council members reached a fever pitch at Monday night’s regular work session meeting.
The elephant in the chamber for the entirety of the regularly scheduled meeting was the letter sent from councilmen David Girard and Tony Riccio to the rest of governing body. The letter, from attorney Lou Hornstine, detailed the ways in which a recent contract award was unlawful. Riccio was the only member of council not present at the meeting.
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The maintenance contract in question was awarded to former council member Leo Plenski on February 12. The contract, to maintain two baseball fields in town, was for $48,000 over four years. At this regular council meeting, Riccio and Girard expressed concern that the contract should go out to bid. Councilman Greg Pezza deferred to William Salerno, the borough solicitor, who expressed his opinion that the vote would be legal.
The vote followed and Plenski was awarded the contract.
“I voted for the solicitor because I trust the solicitor, and that is why he is here,” Pezza said.
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On Tuesday, February 27, Plenski was charged for his alleged connection to an illegal gambling ring being run out of the St. Ann’s Athletic Association. The gambling sting and the contract award were coincidental and borough officials believed Plenski would continue with the field maintenance.
The second half of Monday night’s work session dealt with the letter between council members threatening legal action if the situation were not remedied. Stacey Dragon and Tom Carpenter, from the town’s little league organizations, spoke in support of Plenski and the great job he does keeping the fields maintained. Plenski, according to Dragon, puts in four hours every day of the season at the fields keeping them maintained. If the contract is broken down into an hourly wage, that wage comes out to just about $8.50 each hour. Carpenter described Plenski as a “wizard” for all of the good work he does maintaining the fields.
“It is so short-sighted on your part to break this down into dollars and cents,” Carpenter said. He added that the people being hurt the most by this fight are the kids.
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For Girard, the fight was not about Plenski personally, or the amount of money the contract was for. Girard argued that he wanted to do right by Bristol taxpayers by putting the contract out to bid. Girard went on to say that he did not ask anyone to resign.
The letter addressed to council argues that state rules state that any bid whose value will exceed a base amount of $18,500 must go out to bid. Further, the letter says, no contract may exceed the current Council’s lifespan of two years. Should the contract not be withdrawn, members of the Council are subject to fines and misdemeanors.
The base for Riccio and Girard’s concern came from a phone call Riccio made to the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, who advised him of the aforementioned rules.
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During the meeting, Salerno asserted that certain exemptions exclude the contract from the need to be put out to bid. The borough’s special council, Christopher Gerber, was brought in to investigate the matter. According to Gerber, the contract employing Leo Plenski to maintain the fields was legal. The contract, a maintenance of public works contract, did not need to go out to bid, Gerber said.
The animosity at Monday night’s meeting seemed to stemmed from the fact that Riccio and Girard sought outside legal assistance instead of bringing the matter up to the rest of council. DiGuiseppe told Girard that bringing the issue up to Council would have been the much better way of addressing the problem.
“I think this is the biggest disgrace,” DiGuiseppe said, referencing the way the Council conflict was handled.
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At one point, tensions rose so high that the meeting was put into a short recess so that members could collect themselves.
At the time of the meeting, Council President Ralph DiGuiseppe II had not heard from Plenski or received an official resignation from his position maintaining the fields, DiGuiseppe said after the meeting. DiGuiseppe did mention, however, that Plenski had resigned from his work for the school district.
Hornstine said after the meeting ended that he plans on speaking with members of the Council.
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“We feel comfortable with our position should we need to proceed,” Hornstine said.
Editor’s Note: Lou Hornstine has served as the business attorney for LevittownNow.com and its parent company but has no editorial influence over news articles published.
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