Bullskin Township's auditors will ask the courts to appoint an attorney to represent them in their effort to obtain paperwork and documents they say are needed to complete an audit.
At Bullskin's meeting this week, Auditor Jeff Hann again requested paperwork from supervisors that he had requested in a letter last month.
In the letter, he asked township supervisors for several pieces of information that auditors believe are needed to do their job, including fuel logs, activity reports, time cards, records showing inventories of real property, copies of leases or contracts, if any, minutes of supervisors' monthly meetings, any separate records maintained by the treasurer, the 2010 budget, insurance policies, records pertaining to cash disbursements, and all vouchers together with invoices or bills.
Supervisors responded with a letter from their solicitor, Don McCue, that stated it was clear the auditors are not entitled to receive, nor do they need, the information requested to perform a complete and accurate audit of township records.
McCue said this week that the township's position has not changed since last month's meeting.
Hann said he has taken the issue to the Department of Community and Economic Development as well as the Right to Know office in Harrisburg. Both concurred that auditors are entitled to the information, he said.
Section 605 of the township code states that auditors should be presented with meeting minutes for the year in question, which has not been provided, he said.
Supervisors contend the auditors can have any of the information they requested if they come in on their own time to look at it, but it is not needed to complete an audit.
"What they're trying to do is hold our time back to save money, but they're not saving money this way," Hann said.
Auditors make $10 an hour with a maximum of 100 hours a year. With just two auditors since the resignation of Norma Brown last month, that comes to a maximum of $2,000.
The township's general budget would have to absorb the cost of an attorney for the auditors, as well as any other legal fees, if the courts grant the auditors' request.
In other action:
• Supervisors advertised for the vacant auditor's position but have not received any applications. They have 30 days from the day (Jan. 26) they accepted Brown's resignation to fill the position. If unsuccessful, the vacancy board must fill it within 15 days. If the board fails, the courts will be responsible for filling the position.
• Jennifer Casini, representing her parents, Barbara and Cecil Casini of Bullskin, asked supervisors to look into putting together an ordinance that would regulate the use of outdoor wood burners.
Casini said her parents' neighbors use an outdoor wood burner, but the chimney does not meet American Homeowners Association regulations of being 2 feet taller than the highest roof peak of any residence within a 300-foot radius.
She presented a sample ordinance recently adopted by Smithfield Borough. She said she would be happy to help the supervisors or their solicitor tweak the ordinance to fit the township's needs.
"It doesn't seem right that citizens in the township cannot breathe on their own property or within their own homes," Casini said.
• Resident Betty Stouffer asked supervisors if they had done anything more about adopting ordinances that would protect residents and their property with Marcellus shale drilling companies coming into the township.
Supervisor Deb Wiltrout said they have access to sample drafts and would have to tweak them to fit the township's needs if they decided to do that sometime.
• Bullskin Township Little League will hold sign-ups in the township building on Saturdays, beginning today, March 5 and March 12, from 10 a.m. to noon, and on March 15 at 7 p.m. For more information, call Lynette Stouffer at 724-887-4659.
