Forty Fort Borough Building
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FORTY FORT — A judge has denied the request by three ousted members of the borough’s civil service commission to be reinstated and the commission can now move forward with hiring more police officers, Mayor Brian Thomas said Tuesday.
The injunction was initially requested by Robert Craig, Robert Swaback and Anthony Smith, through their attorney G. Vincent Tese of the Cyber Law Firm in West Chester, as part of a civil complaint they filed against the borough on July 22, three weeks after six members of borough council removed them from the civil service commission.
The preliminary injunction was denied by Luzerne County Judge Tina Polachek Gartley in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas.
According to Thomas, the commission has since resumed its activities and held a public meeting Monday evening.
“We are hoping that sometime in November we’ll be hiring new police officers. That’s the goal,” Thomas said.
The lawsuit itself is still active and pending further litigation.
Craig, Swaback and Smith were removed from the civil service commission during a July 1 council meeting for actions that Board Solicitor Greg Skibitsky said at the time were prohibiting the commission from doing its job of hiring police officers for the borough.
According to Skibitsky, council voted to remove Craig because he was “trying to hold onto power” as a voting member of the commission after he was already cycled back into an alternate role after the appointment of Christine Kutz.
Kutz was appointed in May to fill the vacancy left by Scott Serafin, who resigned due to his current position on the airport board.
Craig had previously stepped in to temporarily fill Serafin’s position before Kutz was appointed as a permanent member.
At that July 1 meeting, Skibitsky said Swaback was acting inappropriately by recognizing Craig as a voting member, “which was prohibiting Sarah Michaels and Christine Kutz from acting as the voting members of the commission.”
Furthermore, the solicitor said that both Swaback and Smith did not for the last several months comply with Mayor Brian Smith’s request for copies of the commission’s minutes and agendas, which he said culminated in the mayor having to file a Right-to-Know request.
Conversely, the civil complaint filed by Craig, Swaback and Smith alleged their dismissal by borough council was illegal and that they were removed without any charges of wrongdoing or allowed to defend their actions on the civil service commission.