Benson fills authority seat during unadvertised meeting

Benson Borough has quickly and quietly appointed a former chairman back to the Conemaugh Township Municipal Authority.

In an unadvertised meeting Tuesday, council voted 4-1 to place Mark Blasko on the board. Blasko was a member of the authority for nearly seven years, serving at times as chairman and vice chairman. 

He was replaced by current Chairman John Mastillo in 2010 after Conemaugh Township supervisors decided not to renew his term.

“I do work at water treatment plants and I do work at sewage treatment plants,” Blasko said in reference to his qualifications. “I’m an engineer by profession.”

Blasko was the authority chairman for much of the Blough project, a recent cooperative effort with the Somerset County commissioners to bring potable water to the small Quemahoning Township community. Residents at the time had been banned by the state Department of Environmental Protection from drinking water out of their existing system, which tapped an untreated surface-runoff source.

According to Blasko, it will be critical for the authority to seek public input on all projects to instill trust.

“I took pride in (doing) that,” he said. “I think everybody should have an equal say.

“I’m looking forward to working with the authority.”

Blasko will fill the seat vacated by Andy Hummel, who died July 8. He said he was notified that he was going to be nominated only a day before the meeting on Tuesday.

Benson Borough Council President Kevin Holsopple said the meeting was noted by a post at the town’s municipal building and all council members were called personally. No public advertisement, however, was made in a newspaper.

According to Holsopple, council was exempt from publicly advertising because it was billed as an “emergency” special meeting to fill a position left open because of a death. He cited concern for the future of the authority, which has entered preliminary meetings about partnerships with the Greater Johnstown Water Authority.

“Hopefully (Blasko) will get us going in the right direction and keep us better informed,” Holsopple said. “Benson Borough only has two representatives on the board compared to five from Conemaugh Township. We wanted to be properly represented on the authority.

“We think Mark will do a good job on the board.”

But the appointment — and unadvertised meeting — hasn’t sat well with Benson Borough Councilman George Knapp, a former two-term authority member who wanted to rejoin the board. His self-nomination fell flat Tuesday when his fellow councilmen backed Blasko instead.

“I don’t feel we should have to appoint someone from out of our area to fill the (seat),” Knapp said, noting that Blasko lives in Conemaugh Township, not Benson.

Under the municipal authority’s rules, only one of Benson’s two representatives to the authority has to be a resident. Walter Hutzell, the borough’s other appointee, lives in the borough.

The lack of public advertisement, however, may have violated a more important law: the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. According to media counsel Melissa Melewsky of the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, emergency meetings are narrowly confined to situations where there is “clear and present danger to life or property.”

Benson solicitor Joseph Policicchio, of Somerset, said the sunshine law defines public notice in two ways: one, as an advertisement in a newspaper of record, and secondly, as a visible posting at the location of the meeting at least 24 hours in advance.

“It doesn’t say “and,” and it doesn’t say ‘or,’” Policicchio said. “The question of what form of public notice is required is something that would be subject to further research.”

He added that he did not know borough council had met Tuesday.