Letter to the editor: Transparency in Allegheny Township

According to Allegheny Township Supervisor Jamed Morabito, there will be more transparancy in Allegheny Township’s government in the future than there has been in the past 50 years (“Employee exodus blamed on hostile work environment in Allegheny Township,” Aug. 18, TribLIVE). That is quite a statement from a man who at the August township meeting did not answer basic financial questions about the Community Days event he set up and managed.

Morabito was appointed in the fall of 2022 by Resolution 21-22 to organize the 2023 event. He created a 501(c)3 charitable organization and thereby gave himself control of Community Days income and expense. The intent of Resolution 21-22 was that all sponsorship money and donations would be deposited in an account with the municipality. By not doing this, thousands of dollars were hidden from township government and citizens. When asked at the August meeting if the municipality would ever see any of the money, his answer was, “Why should it?” This from a man preaching transparency.

Allegheny Township has had its share of raucus meetings. But transparancy was never an issue. Every board of supervisors for decades has worked with citizens via late-night meetings and town halls and whatever else it took to be transparent.

Because of the hostile work environment in the township offices, the finest team of government employees a municipality could ever ask for has resigned. The next one to go needs to be Morabito.

— Howard Baybrook, Joseph Ferguson, John Framel, Gerald Frederick, Tom Iseman, Kathryn Starr and Rennick Steele

The writers are former and current Allegheny Township supervisors.