KKK flag photo prompts calls for Sewickley Township supervisor's resignation

A Ku Klux Klan flag that hung inside the Sewickley Township public works building at least two years ago created a “hostile work environment” for employees, township officials were told amid calls for the resignation of the roadmaster who also is a township supervisor.

Former supervisor Alan Fossi called for the resignation of Joe Kerber, who is the township roadmaster, during the supervisors’ meeting Wednesday.

Fossi, a political opponent of Kerber’s when the two served on the board, alleged that Kerber was not being honest.

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Kerber defended his actions, saying that once he saw the KKK flag when he came out of his office, he ordered it removed by the township employee who had brought it into the building. Kerber said that as far as he knew, the flag was only displayed for a few minutes.

Kerber said he knew the incident did not happen after June 2017 because the man who took the photo of the flag left township employment that month.

Fossi, who lost his bid for re-election in November 2017, said he was not aware of the KKK flag being hung in the building.

The photo of the flag surfaced before the May 21 primary, and Fossi challenged Kerber at the May meeting, which was six days before the election.

Resident Kathie Simpson contended that the display of a KKK flag on township property not only created a hostile work environment, but it opened the township to the possibility of legal action. Simpson contended that employees who complained about the hanging of the flag — a symbol of racism — “were told to shut up.”

Kerber was overwhelmingly defeated in the Democratic primary last month by Linda Harvey, township tax collector. Harvey, who was at the meeting, did not comment during the discussion. She will face opposition in the November election from Republican Robert MacPherson, who ran unopposed in the primary.

Former township secretary Erika Horvat, who left her job this spring, asked the other two supervisors — Brian Merdian and Mark Petros — “to do what’s best for the township and be transparent with the solicitor,” who is Zach Kansler, a Greensburg attorney.

Horvat said she has confidence that Merdian and Petros will do the right thing and take the necessary steps to do what “needs to be done.”