Bucks D.A.: Township officials broke Sunshine Act

Supervisors in a Bucks County township violated the state Sunshine Act by hiring an employee via email instead of at a public meeting, District Attorney David Heckler said Wednesday.

Email records turned over to the District Attorney's Office showed that four Warrington Township supervisors - Chair Shirley Yannich, Vice Chair Carol Baker, Millie Seliga, and Fred Gaines - participated in the vote to hire a management consultant in March. They later acknowledged their roles.

A fifth supervisor, Matthew Hallowell, who did not vote, complained to the District Attorney's Office after he was rebuffed at a public meeting for questioning the decision, Heckler said.

Because the supervisors tried to brush the issue under the rug at the public meeting and failed to turn over an incriminating email to prosecutors, Heckler said, he decided to reprimand them publicly. His office routinely gives private warnings to officials who are not complying with the Sunshine Act.

"The chair of the township really appears to have just fibbed her fanny off [and] not been truthful at the public meeting," Heckler said.

But Heckler said the office would not prosecute because he didn't deem the actual action taken - the hiring of the consultant - "nefarious."

"The public decides," Heckler said. "That's what elections are for."

If prosecuted, the four could have received fines of $100 to $1,000.

All the supervisors are newly elected except Yannich. She previously had taken a Sunshine Act course and said she had a book on the topic, prosecutors said.

A call to Yannich on Wednesday afternoon was not returned.

The consultant, David Nyman, was hired to aid in a township-manager search. The supervisors evidently were in a rush to hire Nyman to beat a deadline for posting a first ad for the opening.

The township solicitor is ensuring that the supervisors receive Sunshine Act education, Heckler's office said. Nyman later was hired properly in a public vote.

jmcdaniel@philly.com 610-313-8205

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