McCandless police chief suspended without pay

McCandless council has suspended police Chief David DiSanti without pay until a corrective action plan can be developed to address accusations that he engaged in inappropriate behavior toward a female officer.

DiSanti was placed on paid administrative leave on Oct. 29 after the female officer accused him of treating her unfairly because of her gender and engaging in inappropriate behavior toward her.

After DiSanti was placed on leave, town officials received accusations of inappropriate behavior by him from two other women who have ties to the police department but are not employees, according to a member of council.

The chief’s reinstatement would be subject to him agreeing to a “corrective action plan,” said Gavin Robb, the town’s attorney. Until that occurs, DiSanti will have to forgo his salary.

DiSanti’s salary was $115,000 when he was hired in 2016.

Council approved a 3.5-percent raise in late 2017, but suspended the chief prior to taking action on a raise for 2018, according to a town official.

Council members Greg Walkauskus, Bill Kirk, Joan Powers and Bill McKim voted to suspend DiSanti without pay. Council members Kim Zachary, Steve Mertz and Carolyn Schweiger cast the dissenting vote.

Mertz voted against the measure because the punishment was too lenient.

“I certainly would advocate for much stronger discipline,” he said at Monday’s meeting.

Zachary used social media to express her feelings about DiSanti.

“I don’t want to develop an action plan for the McCandless chief of police,” she wrote in a Facebook posting. “I want a chief that doesn’t need an action plan.”

On Tuesday Mertz took to social media to lambaste his fellow council members for failing to come up with a corrective action plan for DiSanti before bringing it up for a vote.

“We don’t know what we’re doing at town hall,” he wrote. “The simple truth is we don’t know what that plan is or how long it is going to take” to develop.

Zachary and Mertz both said council also should have waited until its regular business meeting on Dec. 28 before rendering a decision on the chief’s punishment because more residents attend those sessions and would have an opportunity to comment.

“People do not get to have their voices heard because some people (on council) don’t care enough to wait a week,” Mertz said.

While council indicated that it would be discussing a personnel matter in executive session prior to Monday’s meeting, the agenda for the meeting did not mention that action would be taken to discipline the chief.

Only one resident, Ron Eichner of Richard Road, commented on the matter.

His concern, however, was about information related to the probe being made public because of “leaks.”

“There should be an investigation” into the source of those leaks, he said.

Robb said he will work to develop the corrective action plan along with town officials and a lawyer who advises the town on labor issues. Robb could not estimate how long the process would take to complete.

DiSanti’s lawyer, Timothy P. O’Brien, issued a statement saying the chief will “abide by” the requirements of the corrective action plan.

“The chief looks forward to his return to duty when appropriate and as soon as possible, where he will continue to perform his duties,” according to a copy of the statement.

DiSanti started his 41-year law enforcement career in as a rookie officer in McCandless. He was hired in 2016 to replace retiring chief Gary Anderson.

If DeSanti returns to work, he could face uncertain support from the officers he commands.

In response to the accusations lodged against DiSanti, the McCandless Police Officer’s Association cast a “no confidence” vote in December in which all but two of the department’s 26 officers questioned the police chief’s ability to continue leading the force.

In addition to DiSanti, the town placed Lt. Jeffrey Basl on paid leave after the same female officer accused him of creating an uncomfortable work environment by openly making homophobic jokes at the expense of other officers, using vulgar expressions and gestures to describe sex acts and engaging in other improper behavior.

Basl was allowed to return to work after serving a 10-day unpaid suspension.

Tony LaRussa is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tony at 724-772-6368 or tlarussa@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TonyLaRussaTrib.