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HANOVER TWP. — The Hanover Area School Board unanimously voted Tuesday to authorize legal action against former Business Administrator Tom Cipriano. The motion did not specify the legal action other than to say it would be “relative to work performed” prior to his departure.
Cipriano’s contract was set to expire in September 2017. Following a requirement in the contract, the board voted last March to notify him six months in advance his deal would not be renewed.
Cipriano then requested to participate in a Voluntary Employee Separation Program offered that summer, but the board declined to consider the request. Cipriano then landed a job at the Schuylkill Intermediate Unit in July, but according to the IU website he is no longer in the position he had been hired to fill.
The board voted in September to have the solicitor look into the possibility of legal action in an effort to recoup money it and the new administration contend was lost or mismanaged during Cipriano’s tenure as business manager. Board members have said they discovered substantial budget shortfalls and debts they had not been aware of after Cipriano left.
In recent paperwork filed in Luzerne County Court, the board asked a judge to approve an effort to convert short-term debt of $6.5 million due June 30 into long-term debt to be paid over 10 years. That paperwork stated the board had thought the district had a $325,000 surplus during 2016-17 only to learn it had a $3.6 million debt, and that the debt has only gotten worse.
At Tuesday’s meeting, attorney Bill Finnegan said attorney Jack Dean will determine what legal action can be taken against Cipriano, which in turn will determine the court where such a case would be filed. He speculated it would likely be handled by a state court.
The goal would be to seek monetary compensation for problems stemming from Cipriano’s actions, but Finnegan said it will be up to Dean to determine the details. “There are many theories that can be pursued,” he said.
Hanover’s board also voted to award a contract to Carbondale-based 1st Choice Security Technology to install security cameras in all three elementary schools, both inside and around the perimeter and playgrounds, at a cost of $15,000.