North Huntingdon police won't cite businesses for violating Gov. Wolf's orders

North Huntingdon joined other municipalities in directing its police force not to cite or take any legal action local businesses that open in violation of the state’s coronavirus-related shutdown orders — as long as they follow the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for wearing personal protective equipment, keep social distancing and sanitizing its facility.

“We need to send him (Gov. Wolf) a strong letter and a warning shot over his bow that he is hurting people,” said Commissioner Eric Gass prior to the commissioners unanimously approving the resolution in a meeting Thursday. If the governor’s orders on business reopening are to be enforced, then it will be up to the state police to handle the enforcement.

Whether the business opens or the public patronizes a business, is up to those people, the township said.

If North Huntingdon receives a complaint that a business is not following the CDC guidelines, the township police will consider that on a “case-by-case” basis, said Commissioner Ronald Zona.

Chief Robert Rizzo was in favor of the action, the commissioners said. Rizzo could not be reached for comment.

The Norwin area — North Huntingdon, Irwin and North Irwin — has only 27 cases for an area with a population of about 34,000 and most of those are in nursing homes, said Jeff Silka, township manager. Based on the number of cases, that is only about 0.09% of the local population affected by covid-19, Silka said.

People in North Huntingdon “should be very angry and upset at him,” Gass said.

Other municipalities have passed similar resolutions directing their police not to enforce the state’s shutdown regulations, said Bruce Dice, township solicitor..

“They (officials) think they’re (restrictions) are nuts. They think it is crazy,” Dice said.

While Zona proposed the resolution, he noted that any business that violates the governor’s orders, does so at its own risk. The township resolution does not protect them against any state action that would result in the owner losing a license or certification or be liable for a fine.

The agriculture department said this week that its food safety inspectors would follow-up on reports of restaurants offering dine-in service in violation of the order. Those restaurants would receive a warning letter from the health and agriculture departments and could face losing their retail food license. If they would open when the license is suspended, the business could be liable for fines of up to $10,000 per day.

The commissioners complained that the Wolf administration has failed to explain the criteria for moving from the “yellow” code that pertains to southwestern Pennsylvania counties, to the “green” code that would allow all businesses to open.

Lyndsay Kensinger, a spokeswoman for Wolf, could not be reached for comment.