Absentee supervisor removed from office

Stacy Diehl didn’t attend Friday’s hearing on her status; judge rules she loses position

A chronically absent Washington Township, Northampton County, supervisor was removed from office Friday after she failed to respond to a lawsuit that charged she neglected her elected duties.

Stacy Diehl stopped attending township meetings more than a year ago, causing the township to sue her in April under a little-used legal maneuver to try to force her off the board. It was a seemingly long-shot bid considering that Pennsylvania offers few options for removing elected officials who aren't fulfilling their obligations.

But in the end, the merits of the suit weren't tested. That's because Diehl treated court in the same manner that she treated township meetings: She didn't show Friday for a hearing at the courthouse in Easton in which she could have contested the township's claims, leading Judge Stephen Baratta to sign an order stripping her of her office.

“We have been trying to encourage her to step aside,” Washington Township Solicitor David Ceraul told Baratta. “She refused, so we were forced to take this action.”

Diehl took her seat last year, but months into her six-year term, she stopped coming to board meetings. The last one she attended was in June 2018, when her two colleagues voted to terminate her husband, Robert Scott, who served as the township's zoning officer.

A phone call seeking comment Friday from Diehl was not returned. She never filed a response to the suit, and in June, the township was granted a default judgment as a result.

Diehl's term expires in January 2024. Ceraul said supervisors plan to advertise the vacancy, accept applications and select a temporary replacement. Voters will ultimately fill the unexpired term at a future municipal election, according to Ceraul, who said he was still looking into the potential schedule.

Ceraul noted that Diehl has 30 days in which to appeal Baratta's order, and he said the township will probably wait

until that time frame has elapsed before moving forward.

Pennsylvania makes it difficult to remove elected officials from office, absent impeachment proceedings in the Legislature. The township turned to what is known as a quo warranto petition, a lawsuit that questions whether someone is legally holding office.

Usually the petitions are filed only in clear-cut cases, for instance when someone convicted of a felony seeks to hold public office, which Pennsylvania explicitly prohibits. But Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli approved Washington Township’s effort, calling it a novel legal issue and casting Diehl’s absences as troubling.

Diehl was part of a board that has just three members, meaning that every time she was missing, there was a danger the board wouldn’t have the quorum it needed to make decisions. Even as she was absent, she continued to draw the $208 per month stipend that came with her seat.

The last supervisors meeting Diehl attended was June 27, 2018, when her husband was fired at a raucous meeting that devolved into a screaming match. Diehl was later cited for criminal mischief and paid a fine for breaking into a township lockbox to get a key for Scott, the husband, who had locked himself out of his office during the meeting.

Scott alleged he was terminated in retaliation for alerting the state’s Department of Labor and Industry that a scoreboard and pavilion on the municipal recreation fields were never issued permits.

Supervisor Chairman Robert Smith insisted there wasn’t enough construction in the township to justify a full-time zoning officer.

Diehl, a Republican like the board’s two other members, was elected in November 2017. She beat longtime Supervisor David Renaldo, a Democrat, by just 12 votes.

Under the state constitution, an elected official can be removed through impeachment, but that requires action from the state Senate and the signature of the governor. An official can also be stripped of office if convicted of such crimes as forgery, perjury, bribery or the embezzlement of public money.

But unlike some other states, Pennsylvania doesn’t permit local governing bodies to vote out elected officials if they violate their duties. The law also does not allow for a recall question to be put on the ballot for voters to decide.

Lawmakers are considering changes to make it easier for governments to take action. In June, the House passed a proposed constitutional amendment that would give local governments a way to remove elected officials for dereliction of duty, including absenteeism. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Justin Walsh, R-Westmoreland, was spurred by the case of Monessen, a city outside of Pittsburgh, where Mayor Matt Shorraw stopped attending meetings for more than a year amid a dispute with city council.

But a constitutional amendment carries a cumbersome and lengthy process that rarely succeeds: It must pass both chambers in two consecutive sessions, then must be approved by voters.

In explaining Washington Township’s lawsuit to Baratta on Friday, Ceraul noted that reality.

“Who knows how long that will take to get signed into law,” Ceraul said.

In the meantime, Ceraul said, Diehl’s absences meant that if one of her colleagues was sick or otherwise unavailable, township business couldn’t proceed.

“So far, we’ve been lucky,” Ceraul said. “We have two supervisors out of three, and they show up.”