Lehighton vacancy likely headed to court

A brief attempt at considering a member to fill the final vacancy on Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors Thursday night hit the skids as director David Bradley Sr. repeatedly accused Board President Larry Stern of violating the state’s Sunshine Act.

Thursday’s meeting was a resumption of the board reorganization session held earlier this month, which stalled with a motion on the floor to appoint Duane Eidem to the ninth board slot. Eidem, a prior board member, was defeated in November’s general election.

Before the vote on Eidem got off the ground Thursday, Bradley stated his opposition to the move.

“To ignore his history as a board member would be negligent,” Bradley said. “He previously made a motion to return only a portion of a resident’s tax overpayment, made a motion to abolish the driver’s education program at a cost to the district and voted to raise taxes with a surplus.”

After Stern said there would not be an opportunity for residents to be heard during Thursday’s session, Bradley made a motion to remove Stern from the board for what he deemed a violation of the Sunshine Act.

According to Lehighton’s solicitor William Schwab, however, because Thursday was a continuation of a previous meeting, the opportunity for public comment would have been at the Dec. 4 meeting.

Schwab did acknowledge that the public should have an opportunity to comment on the motion to appoint Eidem because it was not on the original agenda.

Discussion then turned to whether Stern would be allowed to vote on the motion to remove him from the board, or whether that could be voted on at all.

Bradley’s reading of the state law would have had Stern excused from the vote, leaving the remaining seven members to decide his fate.

That, however, is not how Schwab viewed things.

“The courts have interpreted the law that the only way a district can remove a board member is if they are negligent and not showing up to meetings,” he said. “Mr. Bradley can’t make a decision to take Mr. Stern’s vote away. Unless a court decides to disenfranchise (Stern), it is my opinion that he can vote.”

The meeting concluded with Stern calling for another recess.

Lehighton remains with a vacancy for a two-year term on its board.

If the seat is not filled by Jan. 4, which would be 30 days from the time the vacancy occurred, residents can petition Carbon County Court to have a judge fill the position.