Tuesday’s normally scheduled borough council meeting was canceled Monday, moved to next week
A small group of residents gathers outside of the Harveys Lake Borough municipal authority building to chat after Tuesday’s council meeting was postponed.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
Harveys Lake Council member Robert Prescott chats with residents outside of the borough municipal authority building Tuesday.
Margaret Roarty | Times Leader
What would have normally been the regular Harveys Lake Borough Council meeting Tuesday turned into an unofficial gathering between two council members and a handful of residents after the meeting was postponed amid reports of tensions within the police department.
Council member Robert Prescott organized the public forum, which took place in the parking lot of the municipal authority building, so residents could discuss issues they would have raised at the meeting.
The meeting, which is rescheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 25, with a work session at 6:30 p.m. and a regular voting session at 7 p.m., was postponed because William J. Watt III, the council’s solicitor, would not have been able to attend, according to Council member Charles West.
“We’re here because people want answers about what was in the newspaper on Sunday. That’s why we did this because we should have had our meeting,” West said.
West was referring to a Times Leader article that reported on the details of an internal investigation dated Dec. 8, 2025, that recommended disciplinary action but not termination for Harveys Lake Police Chief Charles Musial.
The 16-page-report, which was not publicly released, was obtained by the Times Leader and outlines a police department in disarray, including misrepresented facts in police reports, non-communication with officers, borrowing money from officers, and having officers pick up and deliver lottery tickets to Musial.
The investigation was conducted at the request of Watt after five officers submitted two “no confidence” letters about Musial to the borough council in September 2025.
Shortly after the no-confidence letters were submitted, West and Prescott told the Times Leader that Musial went on “voluntary suspension with pay” beginning in September and ending in December 2025.
Minutes of Harveys Lake’s council meeting held Dec. 16, 2025, say they met in executive session to discuss disciplinary matters pertaining to a borough employee who is not named, and voted in favor of issuing a written reprimand for conduct.
Just weeks after the report was issued, a majority of Harveys Lake council gave Musial a new two-year contract retroactive to Jan. 1, 2026, and running until Dec. 31, 2027. Musial’s salary is listed in the contract as $87,550 for both 2026 and 2027.
West believed that the council should have been able to answer questions from the public about the report without their attorney present.
Additionally, he said that despite the internal investigation, issues within the police department remain unresolved.
“We have a great police department out here, but it’s not flowing like it should. Nothing has changed. It just seems like things get pushed under the rug,” he said.
Attempts to reach Musial and Council President David A. Delaney regarding the original reporting were not successful last week.
When reached last Friday afternoon about the report, Council member Clarence Hogan initially said he did not know anything about it and refused to comment.
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