Council - Regular Meeting

Id like to call this May 11th council meeting to order. Everybody please rise for a moment of silence and let's remember all those who passed away during the month. Please salute the flag. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Do roll call, please. Mr. PZA,

here. Miss Cohen here. Miss Rodriguez here. Mr. Cousins here. Miss Vigora who's on vacation. Mr. Johnson here.

Mr. Kochi here. Mr. DJ here. So before we get into public participation and some other things. We have a couple people here. We want to do some presentations tonight. We're going to start with the youngest who is uh 100 years old. And we want to bring her up and honor her. Hello. This way. From up here. Yeah. So, Mrs. Beuji's uh son asked us to read a few things uh about her life before we give a proclamation. Um so, uh Josephine Curtis Diadi Buzi. Josephine was born on May 18th in 1926. Her grandparents were Vincenzo and Angelina Curtis who came from Italy in 1908. Vincenzo and Angelina had four children, Philip, John, Mary, and Filyamina Fanny Curtis. Her father, Giovani Diodi, came from Italy before World War I. Josephine had an older brother, Eugene, who died at the age of four of pneumonia. She has one living sister, Rita Diod Codwell, who is 97 years old. Josephine went to St. Anne church and school. Her cousin, Father Philip Curtis, was the pastor of St. Anne of St. Anne. When she was 8 years old, she got polio. Her first holy communion class prayed for her. Her father would

take her to the river and tell her, "Kick your feet in the water." She got completely better and they called her the miracle child.

True. Josephine's father died when she was 11 years old. Her mother Fanny and her sister Rita lived with her aunt Mary at 925 Wood Street. She worked at the John Field store on Wood Street at Penn Street making ice cream sodas. She worked at the 5 and 10 store on Mil Street. She worked at Kaiser Metal where she met her husband Frank Buzi. They got married in 1953 and had three children, David, Gregory, and Mary Joe. Josephine and Frank were married 72 years until Frank died in 2025. They lived in the same house in West Bristol since they got married. Josephine was a very good cook. When her boys were young, she was a den mother for the Cub Scouts. She would make homemade pizza and liked to sew and paint. Josephine has three granddaughters, Amanda, Rebecca, and Melissa. She also has two great grandchildren, Jackson and Riley. And this is a proclamation from the Burrow of Bristol. A proclamation from the Bureau of Bristol, County of Bucks, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to honor and celebrate Josephine Vuji for her 100th birthday on May 18th, 2026. Whereas the litmus of of well-being of a community are not in its land or its location, but in how those who live their lives. And whereas Josephine Buji was born on May 18th, 1926. And whereas Josephine Bugji is an original Bristolian, and whereas Josephine Bugji attended Bristol High School and St. Ans Church. Excuse me. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by Bristol Burrow Council and the mayor of historic Bristol Barrow that the residents of historic Bristol Brow join in honoring and celebrating Josephine Beuji on her 100th birthday on May 18th, 2026. Duly proclaimed this 11th day of May, 2026. CONGRATULATIONS.

You want to take some pictures or anybody? You sure? Bring them up. You want to say anything? Bring them up. Let me give you a microphone.

My mom Josephine and her sister Rita are the last two diodates from Bristol. I believe we also have one other little presentation here. I'm sorry.

Wow, that is beautiful. It's an honor. Bristol 97. Okay.

Yes. This person helps yours. I got my real Okay, at this time Councilwoman Rodriguez and Lee Cousin have two presentations for two of our uh firemen. Welcome everyone. Um, can we have Rosie Torres? I don't see her, but I'm sure she's here. She's right there. Come on up, Rosie. And Mr. G.

Hi. How are you? Last month we had uh the pleasure of being invited to the firehouse banquet. It was a very nice banquet, but at that banquet we celebrated a lot of our volunteers and at that time we were told about Rosie and Brian saving a life. Uh we were lucky that supposedly Brian was going to work. Yes, it was. He was going to work and on his way to work someone was went into cardiac arrest

cardiac arrest and he saved him and I think that's wonderful for such a young person and Rosie jumped in and helped and that's very important to have people like these people just volunteer and come out and save people. So tonight we want to honor them and I'm going to start with Rosie. a proclamation of the borrow of Bristol County of Bucks County Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to honor and celebrate Rosie Torres for her life-saving efforts on February 26, 2026. Whereas Rosie Torres demonstrated quick action in CPR and life-saving aid and helped to successfully resuscitate the individual on February 26th. And whereas Rosie Torres is an outstanding example of someone who continues to give to others in the time of need. Now therefore be able proclaimed to be the Burough Council and the mayor of historical Bristol that the residents of Bristol Burrow join in celebrating Rosie Torres for her outstanding achievement duly proclaimed this 11th day of May 2026 and Proclamation of the world county of Bucks County to honor and celebrate Brian Gasper for life-saving efforts on February 26th, 2026. Whereas Brian Gasper demonstrated quick action in CPR and life-saving aid and helped to successfully resuscitate the individual on February 26th, 2026. And whereas Brian Gasper is an outstanding example of someone who continues to give to others in the time of need. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by Burough Council and the mayor of historic Bristol Burough that the residents of historic Bristol Burough join in celebrating Brian Gasper for your outstanding achievement. Congratulations. between.

There you go. Anybody want to come up and take pictures? Mom and dad, take your time.

Not What is that? Okay. We also uh Mr. has a proclamation for uh somebody that went to the Academy Awards. We're very fortunate. So, where's Sydney at? Here she is.

Give him the microphone. Lou.

Yes. Lou. It should be on unless you turn on. A proclamation of the Burough of Bristol, County of Bucks, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to honor and celebrate Sydney Brooks for her college television award achievement. Whereas the limits and well-being of a community are not in its land or its location, but in how those who live their lives. And whereas Sydney Brooks graduated from Bristol High School and the Savannah College of Art and Design. And whereas Sydney Brooks produced the film Almond Nala. And whereas Sydney Brooks was nominated for and won the 2026 Television Academy Foundation College Television Award as producer in the best drama category. Whereas Sydney Brooks has been a shining example to all Bristol students that dedication and hard work leads to success. Now therefore, it be it proclaimed by Burough Council and the mayor of historic Bristol Burough that the residents of historic Bristol Burough join in celebrating Sydney Brooks for her outstanding achievement. Duly proclaim this 11th day of May, 2026. I was I was

take a picture with your granddaughter. I was quite impressed when I saw Sydney's film and it was filmed in Nigeria. She went over there for for a week to film and it was a great job. So congratulations and

come on up. though you stay. Congratulations Um, thank you for this. Um, I just want to say I'm currently working on a documentary about the small business revolution and the impact that it had on Bristol. Um, hopefully that'll be done in early 2027. So, thank you.

Thank you.

You don't want to do anything with Earth, Dave? You already read that proclamation. Yes, I already made a proclamation for day at the last few Sundays ago at the French meeting. I'm sure they considered that when I told them then it would be official May 11th. So I think we've got enough heard enough proclamation so far. Okay, we have uh Mary and Evan here from the AOC to do a presentation. Evan, you're starting. I'm going to start.

Good evening, council men and women. Thank you so much for having me again. My name is Evan Banshee. I work for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers here in Bristol Bar School for the Bristol Bar School District. I'm here tonight to talk about our upcoming summer camp. Um, so we're going to get right into it. So this year for the summer camp at Snyder Gerardi, which also includes St. Mark's School, this is students rising first to sixth grade for Snyder and fifth through 8th grade for St. Marks. We're going to start Wednesday, June 24th, and run until Thursday, July 30th. We have no program for the 4th of July holiday on Monday, July 6th. Program as typical runs Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30. Students will participate in academics, recreation, and they will also be pro provided free meals uh throughout summer camp.

These free meals are also open to any student in the Barrow or any any child under the age of 18. they can come straight to Snider Gerardi and receive a free meal for the summer camp at Bristol Middle High School. Uh this camp starts June 29th to Thursday, July 30th. There are different activities throughout the high school, so some dates might vary based on activities. Um they run Monday through Thursday as well. Some things that you could see over at the high school this summer is our summer camp, credit recovery, weightlifting, and much more programs such as recreation and sports. More importantly, um with the continued support of the Bristol Bar Council, we would like to we aim to continue providing enrichment field trips to student all students enrolled in 21st century. These funds help get the students out of Bristol Barrow. These funds also cover CAM t-shirts, admission fees, transportation, field trip lunches, and for middle school high school participants, we provide an attendance-based uh incentive trip to the bowling alley on through 13. As always, we would love to invite each one of you to come towards the end of our camp. We provide we have a performing arts play. We love to have you guys come out there. Your presence and continued support means a great deal to the students here in Bristol Barrow. Do we have any questions, comments, or concerns about summer camp at Bristol?

Great program. Thank you. I do a great job.

And we would like to thank Evan and his staff for all their hard work for their successful program. So, I'm Mary Jezwaldi. I'm the president of the Academic Oversight Committee, the AOC, and I'm here to give you an update on our activities. Sources of funding, including continued funding of the entire 21st century community learning center program from the Commonwealth, are a great concern to us right now. The AOC follows legislation out of Harrisburg about future funding, but right now it's anyone's guess if and how much we will be awarded to the will be awarded to the Bristol Bough School District. Currently, cohort 11 is entering its final year of grant funding. Uh there have been indications at the state level that a new cohort 13 grant may be released in the near future. A team from the Bristol Burough School District and the Ivans Outreach Center have successfully submitted winning grants for the last several years, which is the plan for the next cohort. as well. Our hope is to construct and submit a winning grant application to the Pennsylvania Department of Education to continue our out of schooltime programming. Since COVID 19, the funding landscape has changed considerably. Fundraising and donations have either been reduced or eliminated. There is a lot more competition for fewer funds available for distribution.

We would tonight like to thank the council for your continued support of our efforts. The mission of the AOC is primarily fundraising. We receive, evaluate, and award grants to educators at Snyder Gerate, Bristol Middle School, Bristol High School, and St. Mark School. It's why we have the Bristol Fall Classic, our annual marquee fundraiser. It is happening on November 21st, 2026. More details will be announced in September, but please mark your calendars tonight and plan to attend this wonderful event. We will be honoring that night our person of the year, our teachers of the year from each of the four schools, and our student of the year, Grace Bole. Grace will be receiving an AOC scholarship from us at the end of this month. I'm wondering if you have any questions that I could answer.

All right. Thank you for your support. Thank you, Mary. Thanks for all you do. Okay, that should cover all of our presentations and we're going to open up public Oh, I'm sorry.

Quick announcement about uh burrow wreck. I know it's not a typical work session, but we got some things going on tomorrow night. So, um there is a currently a uh spring league uh basketball running for Barrow Wreck. It's uh 8 9 and 10 and 11 12 and 13. It's at Bristol High School. Last week was the first week which is on Tuesday. Uh tomorrow night is the second night. Uh but it is the only it's the last night for which you can sign up. You can come up and sign up on site. Uh it should be a nice program for the kids. Uh they had a really good time the other night. We're going to separate them out into teams and um and just have a fun summer league. So, uh a couple of things. Please remember that it is $20 to join for Burough Residents. Uh this will be put towards t-shirts, referees, and other things. Um $35 for out of town. And uh on top of that, I'm asking that anyone that is already in it or interested in being in it, please go on to Team Reach. It's an app. If you have kids, you're probably pretty familiar with it. and the group code is wreck hoop 26. You'll also get emails from uh my recre desk from Brian Mars. Um and Brian and I will be there tomorrow night and uh we'll get going. We're also still looking for some coaches. We've gotten a number of volunteers, a lot of volunteers the other night, but we can use some more. So, thank you.

Thank you. Okay, I'm going to open up public participation. So, anybody on this side of the room would like to speak on anything, go to the podium, state your name and address,

Rachel Cayman Radcliffe Street. I have two things I'd like to address. One is at the last meeting that I was here, I asked the bureau to post the trash contract because the bureau passed an ordinance that said that any changes you should refer to the contract. So that means anyone paying a trash bill, anyone thinking of moving to the burrow has no idea what they're in for, what the rules are until you post the contract to the website. So, I'm asking yet again, please post the contract because your own ordinance says that you defer to that contract. The the other piece I'd like to address is I'm here to support the continued employment of Richie Webb. Um, he is an upstanding moral individual and my fear is that if he were to lose his job, it would send a silencing, intimidating message to any other officer in the police department that if you dare to put your head above the parapit, you will be taken out. And I am confounded that this this burrow allowed for an off officer back then, officer Sto, to treat me in an unprofessional way. I went to the police complaint, civilian complaint board. All I asked for was for an apology for vogal vulgar language directed my way and for body cams to be implemented. This was back in August of 2024. I am thrilled to see that there will now be body cams. But back before the the former mayor, I sent an email asking for body cams and did not even get the courtesy of a response to my email. So I if you lose Richie Web, you are losing an upstanding moral individual and I don't think we as a

bureau can afford to do that. Thank you. Anybody else on this side of the room?

Chris Dale, 94 924 pond. I'm also here in support of the two web. Thank you. Anybody standing in the back before we get to the Nobody in the back? Okay. Anybody on this side of the room want to speak?

I just want to remind everybody the uh fifth annual mahogany and steel car and boat show. It's fast approaching. It's May 30th, Saturday, May 30th. The ring date is uh Sunday, May 31st. And uh so it's free to uh attendees. You can come out and vote for your favorite classic car, an antique car. The boats will be both on trailers under the wararf and on the docks and it's a good time. And then it's it's from uh reg car registration starts at 9:00 and the show runs from uh 10 to 3 and at 3:00 we do the uh car parade down Rack Street from the King George all the way down to Green Lane by the old weed Chevrolet building is where it breaks up. And I have to admit something. When we get around where Kaiser used to be, I get a smile on my face. Back in the 60s, I had the cops chasing me in that area. And now they're leading me down Rank Street. But they were good to us even back then. I think Councilman Katrochi could watch for that. So, uh, yeah, come on out, have a good time. It's free. Enjoy the rest. And then the high school teachers, they sell sausage sandwiches and sausage and pepper sandwiches and hot dogs. So come out this Saturday couple weeks. Thank you.

Okay. Anybody else on this side of the room?

Good evening. I'm Joanne Sressy. I no longer live here, but I lived here in 2008. And um one night I called 911 for help. Um and the police officer that came was Sam Anderson. He sexually assaulted me that night. Um and after that it was like my life was extremely hard to deal with because not only because of the assault but because of the the public questioning whether I was telling the truth or not. Um the scrutiny and the doubt that you know happened because here I am you know accusing a police officer of something. Fortunately, Richie Webb, um, Officer Richie Webb was on duty that night and he came forward and confirmed what I what my account was. Um, that validated the truth. Um, so, um, his willingness to speak up was really important for me and, you know, it validated what I was saying. Um, most people talk about the brotherhood within police departments and the pressure officers forced to stay silent. Um, Officer Webb chose integrity instead. He stood up for what was right even though it came with personal and professional consequences. He faced retaliation afterwards. Um, including situations where a fellow officers failed to back him up when he needed support. Um now here we are 18 years later where we seem to be seeing the same pattern. Um last year in March um officer Webb along with I believe officer Leapour became whistleblowers regarding an alleged insurance fraud involving a current Bristol Burrow police officer. Um this shows consistency of character. Officer Webb has repeatedly demonstrated that he is willing to do the right thing even when

the right thing seems to be difficult. It's unpopular and risky for his own career. Um I am here tonight to ask this council to recognize the true character um the true person that officer web actually is. While others may while other officers may choose to remain silent or have self-p protection, um he has shown courage, honesty, accountability and officers like him um are the ones communities should be here protecting and retaining and not punishing. So I would hope when you make your decision tonight that you will protect him and retain him instead of punishing him. Thank you for your comments.

All right. Thank you. ANYBODY else follow participation? Go ahead.

My name is Lisa Rivera. I'm at 411 Lafayette Street in Bristol. I just wanted to come up here to say I support Richie Webb. He's my neighbor. Not only is he my neighbor, he's just he's a great person. He's a great family person. Anytime anybody in the community needs something, he's there. He's friendly. He's trustworthy. Um his wife is a lovely woman. His children are lovely children. Um they're just all around good people. And I really hope you protect him and not discipline him or anything. That's all.

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. So, that ends public participation. Anybody on council? Anybody for any statements? Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to accept the council meeting minutes for March 24th, 2026 and April 13th of 2026. Accept the treasures report for March of 2026. Accept the police chief's report for April 2026. Accept the fire chief report for April 2026. Accept the inspection report for April 2026. Accept the public works report for April 2026. Accept the HAR report for April 2026. Accept the Gilmore report dated May 26 for April 26th. Work.

Second by Miss Call. Questions or comments? All those in favor? Oppos. Number three. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the ordinance prohibiting parking in front of 1500 Farragut Avenue, Monday through Saturday between 7 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Second by Mr. President. Questions or comments? All those in favor? Opposed? Number four. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to adopt the ordinance establishing the Office of Emergency Management defining the office's appointment, hours, and duties. Second by Mrs. Colum. Questions or comments? All those in favor?

Oppos? Number five. Mr. President, like to make a motion to adopt the police department's bodywn cameras in car cameras, standard operating pro procedures effective February 9th, 2026. Second by Mrs. Rodriguez. Questions or comments? The only thing I'd like to comment on is this been a two-year battle to get these cameras. This wasn't something that was pushed aside. There's a lot involved with getting cameras, getting procedures put in place. Uh we got money through the RDA to pay for everything. They finally came out on was it Friday, Chief? Yeah.

Friday to train all the officers. There's a lot involved. You're just going to put a camera on somebody and say, "Okay, we're good." So hopefully everything's moving forward. Another week or two they should be on every police officer downstairs. Correct. Okay. All in favor? Opposed? Number six. Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to adopt police department command protocol procedures and notifications effective November 14th, 2016 revised February 9th, 2026. Second by Mr. Cosman. questions or comments? All those in favor? I oppose number seven.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to table uh number seven. So, there's a motion on the floor to table number seven. All in favor? Opposed? Take motion table number eight. Mr. President, I like to make a motion to authorize hiring Amanda as a part-time administrative employee at hourly rate of $22. Second by Miss Colum. Questions or comments? All those in favor? I oppose. Number nine. Number nine. I'd like to make a motion to approve resolution adopting Bucks County Tax Claim Bureau's new collection tools.

Second by Mr. Cousin. Questions or comments? All those in favor? Opposed? Number 10.

Mr. President, I'd like to make a motion to approve the disciplinary termination of Officer Richie Web. Second by Mr. PZ by Mr. Comments. Statement pardon. Can I make a statement? Sure. To the members of council. I'm asking council tonight to table this action not to protect anyone from scrutiny but to protect the burrow from the serious and costly legal exposure that is building with every step council takes in this wrong direction. Bristol Burough is already in a legally precarious position. If this investigation continues on its current course, the taxpayers of the community will pay for it in litigation costs, damages, and attorney fees that could have been entirely avoided. Let me direct this about Officer Web is a documented whistleblower and that changes everything. Officer Webb is not a simple problem employee. He is an officer who on the record and in writing as reported workman's comp fraud, sexual assault by high-ranking members of the police department, coercion of burough residents to vote for specific mayoral candidate with criminal charges allegedly used as leverage, evidence manipulation within the department. These are serious documented allegations. Officer Wed made them formally in writing and placed the burrow on legal notice. He has also made clear in his own words that he has successfully sued sued the burrow before and is fully prepared to go down it again. Under Pennsylvania law and federal law, an officer who reports misconduct in good faith is entitled to robust legal legal protections against retaliation. When the burrow's response to these reports is to open a disciplinary investigation targeting the reporting officer while the very

official he accused remain in their position and involved in managing this case. That is a fact pattern that a plaintiff's attorney will present to a jury with devastating effect. And I brought that up offering to intercede but I was turned down. The investigation structure is a retaliation lawsuit waiting to happen. Officer Webb has been off active duty since April 3rd, 2025, over 397 days. As of most recent correspondence to to the mayor, he was medically cleared to return to work on January 27th by his treating physician. Since that clearance, the burrow has failed to timely schedule an independent medical exam. Seized his servicey weapon, which he had at home or not at home, in his possession in his locker for the entire time that he was out. Why it wasn't taken in the very beginning, I don't know. It's a breach of procedure. Schedule and rescheduled fitness for duty exams without coordination or transparency. opened a disciplinary investigation into the officer web on the same day it acknowledged his whistleblower complaint. He assigned that investigation to an outside council operating at the direction of the very department leadership web has accused of misconduct. I mentioned that to the uh labor attorney and said that I didn't think it was right that the person that he made the complaint should have control over the actions of officer web. My complaint went unanswered. Every one of these actions standing alone creates a litigation risk. Together they create a timeline that tells a story. An officer reported s serious misconduct. The burrow's response was to build a case for his ter termination. No jury instruction is needed to understand what that looks like. Under the Pennsylvania

Human Relations Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, Officer Web has colorable claims for retaliation, disability discrimination, and deprivation of due process. His own correspondence explicitly raised ADA exposure, noting that he suffers from documented PTSD arising from traumatic onduty incidents, including the deaths, as we all recall, of three burrow residents, and that the burrow is advancing towards termination while his medical status remains unresolved by the burrow's own inaction. That is not a speculative legal theory. That is a textbook ADA retaliation and failure to accommodate case. The investigation was assigned to outside labor attorneys uh council uh Cample Durant whose client is a burough counsel is the client of the burough counsel and is whose relationship with Chief Moore is the primary subject of officer web's complaints creates a structural bias that courts have consistently found intolerable. Pennsylvania law is clear where the prosecutorial and adjudicationary functions in discipline disciplinary proceedings are not meaningfully separated. The resulting process is constitutionally infirm. Here the same outside council was simultaneously tasked with investigating officer web's complaints against the chief and building a disciplinary case against officer web effectively serving both the prosecutotorial and investigative roles while their client remained the very body web accused of. That is not an investigation. It is a process designed to fail legal scrutiny. and when it does the burough will bear to con bear the

consequences. I would like to know whether uh the application of liness to the municipal internal affairs proceedings in the third court of Pennsylvania commonwealth court uh assess whether the line of structural bias argument has been applied specifically to the burough labor council arrangement similar to one here. Has that been done Mr. Harvey? I have no idea what you're asking. I will let him finish and then maybe you finish. Okay.

This is not an abstract. If Officer Webb files suit and based on his correspondence, the only question is timing, the burrow faces con compensatory damages for lost wages, benefits, and emotional distress. If retal retaliation is proven, punitive damages under section 1983. If a court finds the conduct was deliberately indifferent to his constitutional rights, attorney fees under section 1988, which in civil rights cases can dwarf the underlying verdict. Civil service reinstatement with full back pay if disciplinary process is found procedurally defective under the bureau code and the civil service rules and defense costs for the burrow would be paid by us the taxpayers across what could be years of federal litigation. Council's March 23rd letter to the mayor raised the prospect of voiding insurance coverage for me because of orders that I placed and an allegation that was made against me of attempting to gain preferential treatment for officer web on parking tickets. What I did was perfectly legal. I admitted to that. However, the judge that was sitting down there at the time has now been informed that he's under investigation by the Judicial Conduct Review Board. The very same thing that I did for Officer Web, I did for members of this council throughout my time and for members of the residents of this town throughout my time on the bench. Allow you extra time to pay for your tickets. Pay the original ticket. They're perfectly legal. And when they went that to me, I told them, "Bring it on. I'm ready for it."

Council should focus on whether its own conduct, this investigation will will be covered because an investigation found to be structurally retaliatory, built on a conflict of interest, and directed at protected whistleblower is exactly the kind of conduct that insurance carriers move to this place. I'd like to know if you ever check with your insurance company to see how how your specific uh personal liability is covered on this proceeding uh while the invest criminal investigation is is pending also compounds the risk. At the same time the independent exam investigation was uh authored, they also contacted district attorney's office and asked them to investigate as well. Despite that referral, council has pressed forward with a parallel investigation through outside labor counsel. Conducting an internal investigation to overlaps with an active or pending criminal investigation is legally and practically dangerous. It can contaminate the witness testimony and compromise potential criminal prosecutions, create fifth amendment complications for officer web and others compelled to participate in internal proceedings while criminal exposure remains open and under the integrity of an inventual discipline by obtaining the evidentary record used in subsequent civil service proceedings. Do we know if there's a current status on the request with the district attorney's office?

No, I don't. Mr. Solicer, do you have any? I have no information at all. Mr. Harvey, do you have any information?

Mr. Mayor, I have a question for you. Uh, you're raising all of these concerns. Uh, why have you not raised them with me or the solicitor previously instead of showing up here and trying to sandbag everyone? Why have you not submitted to my multiple No, let me let me ask the question. Why have you not submitted to my multiple requests for you to sit down for an interview? Instead, you are available to the multiple medical appointments for the last week or so. That's what you said, but you're a you're able here today to do this long street, but you didn't raise any of this with the solicitor or me prior to tonight. And and apparently, was that written by you? Is that written by some other council? Who are you representing?

I have an attorney. I have an attorney. Just in case you don't know, I have an attorney. I have a lawsuit against council. Okay. So, did your attorney write that state that you just wrote? Yes, he did. So, so you have an attorney and you're moving against the burrow as the mayor. Yes, I am. Okay. And you because on on your on your on your direction and on your advice, you directed them and told them that they have the authority to override my authority given to me by the burough code.

And Mr. Mayor, you recused yourself from this investigation because because there was allegations of you making calls after you left the bench of the desk district justice on behalf of Officer Richie Webb and his wife regarding their tickets, right? There was an investigation regarding that. So, you recused yourself. If you recuse yourself, how are you working with an attorney to raise all these issues against the bureau?

I'll tell you, Mr. Hardy, who by the way, uh, Mr. Council President Pete at at one point when I asked him about uh tableabling a a prior uh revision of uh the IND the affairs investigation policy told me that the our labor attorney and to put it as as eloquently as he said who where we are paying an astronomical amount of money to represent us, asked us to put this on the agenda. So, yes, and you know, to paraphrase, yeah, I stepped back in hopes that officer web would be fine. Okay? But I'll tell you what, you know, like John Wick, I think I'm back.

OKAY. OKAY. I THINK I'M BACK. I am not going to anymore. Okay. You've been saying I'm standing or or grandstanding. I am not going to sit here in this council chambers anymore and and suffer through what I get from council. I WAS ELECTED BY A majority of people. OKAY.

All right. Is there anything else you want to ask me, Mr. Harvey? Cuz I'm on a roll for Yeah. I want to ask you what I want. Let me ask you a question. What phone calls did you make? What phone calls did you make on behalf of the web's tickets to the uh to the district justice? What phone calls? You want to know exactly? Yes. I said, "Look, Officer Webb missed his hearing." He missed his hearing. Yeah. And he was found guilty of statute. Okay.

I said to him, "Listen to me. Officer Webb is up against it. He's suffering from PTSD. That's not mental illness. That's from doing a job and being exposed to something that will have a lasting effect on you." So I asked him if he could do in his judicial powers, withdraw the guilty and abstension, give him more time to pay to to to take care of the tickets. That's what I did. So as a former judge, you called a current judge and said, "I need you to break the rules here." It's not a breaking the rules.

It's not breaking THE RULES. I DID IT FOR I DID IT FOR Councilman DJ Zeppy and other people in his council when they came to me and said they had a constituent that was up against it. Could I give them more time to pay the tickets? Deny that. And have you been contacted with investigation of you by the judicial review board? Have you been I have not. You have not.

But I'm sure you're going to make sure I do. So just so I can finish, tableabling this matter is not a defeat. It is a responsible exercise of the fiduciary obligation every council member accepted when sworn into office. Specifically, I ask council immediately suspend any latter mill or disciplinary proceedings pending resolution of officer web's medical status through a fair, neutral, and impartial structured IME process. Commission an independent legal review by council with no prior relationship to this matter of whether the investigation as currently structured exposes the burough to retaliation ADA and 1986 to 1983 black hill allow the the Bucks County District Attorney's Office investigation to run its course before any overlapping internal proceedings are conducted on the same underlying conduct and engage the bureaus B's insurance carrier now to determine the scope of available coverage and identify any steps if taken could jeopardize the burrow's address. The residents of Bristol Burough deserve accountability. They also deserve a a government that does not take actions that needlessly cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars for violating the civil rights of law enforcement personnel. I urge council to take this seriously and I have just a couple of questions. How many people in this room have been have been subjected to the same tragic incident that officer web was was involved in. Is there anybody in here? I have

Yeah, I was there. I suffered through the same thing. There's a lot of doubts in your mind. You think about a lot of things. Officer Webb deserves the benefit of the doubt. He was a good officer. I hired him. I hired the chief. There's a lot of guys that I hired. I think for for the 27 years that officer Webb has served this community.

I believe that we need to allow him a little more time. I told you before, council, that I thought that there was a problem with with putting the um control of officer web's upcoming uh independent investigation and I have in the hands of the person he made complaints about. I'm not saying what the chief did was wrong because I don't know. But I told you on the phone and I told you that I thought that the optics weren't right. I offered to do it my way for me to put a letter out, not put a letter in front of me and tell me sign this letter ordering officer web to this independent exam. I told you then and there I wouldn't sign it because it was adversarial. That's not the way I roll. Okay? And if you remember correctly, the burough manager walked down and grabbed a paper from me and told me that was obstruction of justice.

Okay. So, you know what? I'm back. I am BACK on my police department. That's why I'm here. and that for the people who voted for me to do the right thing. So cast your asp. I'm ready for it. Are you done, Frank? Yes, sir. Thank you for your time,

Mr. Harvey. I mean, council has asked me um to provide the basis, the factual basis for the termination. Uh let me let me run through this uh and then I I can respond to some of the mayor's issues also. Um, so Burough Council has directed me as outside labor council to state the reasons for the officer Richie Web termination due to inaccurate statements uh made on social media by officer web and other bloggers uh and some inaccurate statements made by the mayor tonight that I'll that I'll rebut. Uh so the reasons for the termination, let me run through it. Number one, Officer Webb, while on duty was outside the burrow and caused approximately $5,000 in damage to a burrow police cruiser that he was operating on his shift. Uh, Webb failed to provide a credible reason why this accident occurred in a remote location outside the township. That's that's one. Number two, Officer Webb authored and sent and posted a letter to to the district justice identifying himself as a sworn law enforcement officer and accusing the district justice of criminally obstructing the administration of law. Webb, instead of making any complaints he had to the district attorney's office or the judicial conduct board, caused the posting of this letter, mailed this letter containing what appears to be baseless charges and created the false impression that his posting was somehow part of some official record. He called it an official record. He also called the uh district he called the district justice as a law enforcement officer, the district justice was under active review. Uh, that's number two. Number three, while out on disability leave and

while refusing to appear for a disciplinary investigation, the mayor talked repeatedly about Officer Web's complaints. Well, that was subject to an independent investigation that Webb refused to show up to be interviewed for. And Mayor, for your information, there was two separate attorneys who weren't communicating with each other. One was going to handle the disciplinary investigation, one was going to handle Officer Webb's complaints, but he would not cooperate with either of them. And let me go through let me go through how we try to get Officer Web to cooperate. While out on disability leave and while refusing to appear for a disciplinary investigation interview and an interview regarding his complaints, uh, Officer Webb responded, refused to respond to any orders. She refused to sp respond to the chief. Mayor, before you got involved and told the chief to stand down and told told everyone to stand down on the investigation before you got involved, he wouldn't respond to any of the chief's orders. Not only would he not respond to the chief's orders as an active police officer, he threatened the chief, he texted the chief, and he told the chief that quote, "The days, your days of wearing white may very well be coming to an end." And he told the chief in this text, "Begin preparing for the consequences for what is already in motion." He threatened the chief with a text while he uh was off on disability. While off on dis number four, while out off on disability leave,

Jose, that's it.

I want We gave the the mayor an opportunity to speak. Nobody bothered him. Give our attorney a right. We're going to ask you to leave. Number four, while Officer Webb was out on full salary disability leave, he failed to respond to or ever ever acknowledge any calls from the department. Any calls from the chief, he failed to respond to letters, emails, texts from the chief or from burough counsel. Web disobeyed multiple orders to appear for interviews. He disobeyed multiple orders to acknowledge receipt of correspondence from the chief. And mayor, you keep talking about uh disability. The burrow highly values any officer who's suffering a disability. Officer Webb provided a medical note saying he was fully able to return to duty. The burrow as any other responsible employers because we had a a lot of issues with the disability. They and we had not seen his medical records simply did what every other department did and said we're scheduling a fitness for duty exam to make sure you're okay to come back. We went to schedule that mayor and mayor I wrote a letter saying officer web the the exam is next Thursday and you got involved and said I don't want a date being put down there. I don't want a date being put down there. Let him respond and tell us when he's available.

That's not what I said. Okay. So we set out a letter for the fitness for duty exam. He didn't show up.

Uh workers comp. Workers comp. He's receiving workers comp. Under workers comp law, when you're receiving workers comp, the insurance company or the employer has the right to schedule an exam. They schedule exam. He doesn't show up. Uh they have to go to court. The the workers comp defense attorney has to go to court and get a judge to compel him to show up because he doesn't show up for the hearing. He doesn't respond. He doesn't go to and the burrow suffers cancellations for all these exempts. And you you said during your statement that we didn't promptly schedule these exams. We promptly scheduled his exams and we promptly rescheduled the exam and he didn't show up. Workers comp promptly scheduled the exam under the law under workers comp law he didn't show up. Okay. So while this is all going on, while he's disobeying multiple orders to appear for interviews, uh he even disobeyed orders to acknowledge that he was getting mail, that he was getting the the correspondence. He he he said a text to the chief saying uh he was going to have people arrested for even going to his door and trying to deliver letters. Okay. Uh tried repeatedly the bureau tried repeatedly to communicate with him. They tried to handle this in in a in a reasonable fashion. Uh they tried to get him to go to medical exams that he wouldn't go to. Uh they also he also was instructed to provide his medical records to the fitness for duty doctor. what is which is totally normal practice. How can a doctor do a fitness review exam if he can't see your medical records? He never provided the records. He never responded. Uh the doctor called me. The doctor never got anything. Uh he didn't show up. Um, so despite failing to respond to scores of orders, letters, and emails, at the same time, off uh officer web has time to text threats to the chief, to post an untruthful a bunch

of untruthful postings to keep posting. At the same time, uh, the post baseless attacks on the district justice. Uh, Web and his blogger supporters have falsely claimed that this discipline against him. And mayor, you raised this issue also that this has something to do with retaliation. It has absolutely positively nothing to do and and you're smirking right now. It has absolutely nothing to do with retaliation. I I did the disciplinary investigation. Officer Webb would not be interviewed. He would not come in. He would not show up for his ladder mill where he could provide any defenses, explanation, medical records he wanted to pro, he wouldn't show up. Uh I contacted his attorneys. We tried to get his attorneys to cooperate. His attorneys were cooperating, but they could not get him to cooperate. Okay. So, uh, we absolutely positively nothing was done with this investigation or with council's decision that have anything to do with any kind of whistleblowing. As soon as council received his complaint, which chiefly consisted of issues he had raised before and had previously been investigated by the DA's office, and the DA's office offered authored a letter saying that they could find no basis. based upon what he complained of to file criminal charges. What did Bur what did Burough Council do as soon as they received that? They immediately sent it over to uh the DA's office. After about a 5day delay that you had it first and then it eventually went to council. When council got it, you didn't forward it to the DA's office, but council forwarded to the DA's office. Council also communicated with the DA's office and said, "We are fully available to cooperate. We will immediately cooperate." We sent it to the DA's office, but under under current

Pennsylvania law, since he raised criminal and noncriminal issues, the bureau is under a duty to investigate all these issues. So, that was assigned to me. Now, you like to disparage me. I've done hundreds of investigations. I have an ethical code. I have ethical requirements. If I do an investigation and it shows that the that the uh council, whether it's a burough supervisors, whether it's a mayor, whe I've investigated mayors, I've investigated elected supervisors, I've issued reports against council, I've issued reports against elected supervisors, I've elected I I've issued reports against you name it, mayor. It's my ethical duty to when I do an investigation to do it fairly and to issue the findings as as they as they as they fall. So if I was looking at this investigation and council was in the wrong, that would be my findings. When I did the investigation here, u I got no cooperation from officer web. I couldn't find any corroboration of what he was claiming. Uh he wouldn't talk to me. Uh so the mayor just to continue here uh so council refers us all to the DA's office. Uh the DA's office is currently we don't know we don't know we we've called over there and we don't know the current status of it. Now mayor again a large majority of this has been investigated already and they said there was no basis. So, I'm assuming we're going to get the same answer on that portion of the complaint since it's the same stuff that he complained of a couple years ago and they said they found no basis for. I don't know. We're waiting to hear from you. Now, mayor, if you recall, when we referred that over, you issued a letter saying to the chief to stand down and and for the investigation to stop.

I didn't I didn't say investigation stop. What did you say, Mayor? I ordered officer web not to part two. Okay. So, so you you got in the middle of the investigation, unfortunately, mayor, and council legal right as mayor. I Well, actually, actually, no. And you're not you're not an attorney. You're not an attorney. No, I'm not an attorney. You're not an attorney, but I do know what my authority is. Okay. You're not an attorney. So, mayor, as as mayor, you are the administrator of the police department. You do not control hiring, firing, and discipline. You have no authority to fire a police officer. You have no authority to fire any employees. That's counsel. That's correct.

And and you also don't have an authority to tell an investigation to stop once an internal stop the investigation. You do not have that mayor. If you had that authority, every mayor in in the United States of America could shut down every investigation. That's not how it works. The ultimate authority for hiring, firing, and discipline is with counsel. There's case law on that. Uh what may mayor also you're in a conflict here yourself because you're in a conflict with council. You're trying to assert your powers. You've also said that you're getting the mayor's organization to you have you have a lawsuit out there somewhere. Mayor, you have a lawsuit.

We've gotten a filing, but we don't even know what it is yet. So, you're suing the council. Yes. Right. What is that about, mayor? you when you see the present you'll what what is the lawsuit you beating the lawsuit is that is is that they're attempting to take the authority away okay that I have by borrow code and state statute

okay so while we have all this going on there so obviously we're trying to do this investigation fairly you caused a lot of problems in the investigation because you get in the middle of it and also there were some allegations in the investigation about what you did and when with phone calls regarding traffic tickets involving officer web and his wife. And mayor, you could be you could totally be in a right. I don't know because I tried to interview you and we haven't had the interview happen, right? Can I answer that real quick while you're talking? No. When when did you contact me for my interview? Last week.

We've been when this investigation started up until the point that you I could pull it up on my email when you emailed me a week ago. Okay. And I told you that I that I didn't have the time to do it, but I would get back to you. You first wrote back to me and said, "Why are you interviewing me when council is going to fire him?" Right. And I talked to you last week and I said, "This is being tabled. I'd like to interview you." I said, "I'm I'm available." That's not what I said. I'm available. Okay.

I could read you. It's okay. It's okay. So, let let me continue about the basis for the termination here. Uh, so we're waiting for the results of the DA's investigation, but we have a legal duty to do our investigation at the same time. So, we did that. Um, so while we scheduled the first interview with Officer Webb, we scheduled two interviews with two different attorneys who were sitting here like sitting here with a stenographer. He never called. He never said he wasn't coming. Just didn't show up. We We rescheduled the interview. We rescheduled it again. two separate attorneys are going to interview him. Uh, so he doesn't show up again. I'm sitting here. I don't know where he is. He doesn't call. He doesn't tell anybody. Uh, where was he? He was in traffic court. While he was ordered to attend the interviews, he was in traffic court. He was in traffic court approaching one of the burrow officers. And mayor, you're you're a former chief. Is it appropriate for an officer to approach another officer and ask him to help out his neighbor who has um who has and you're a former traffic court judge. Is it appropriate to ask one officer to ask another officer to help out his neighbor who ran a stop sign, didn't have proof of insurance, didn't have registration, didn't have inspection, and they go up to that officer and say, "Can you help them out?" while you're scheduled to come in to be interviewed for all these imminent complaints you have that you won't show up for. So, we find out after the fact that he was in traffic court. So, that that's another problem. Is it is it inappropriate for an officer to ask another officer to help out uh someone on their behalf? Yes, it is.

Ask the chief. It is. Yes, it is. Ask the chief. Okay. But so you're telling me that when you got requests to do favors for people, that's what you did as a district justice. That's what you're telling me? No. What? No. No, I'm not telling. You just insinuated that. No. You said you've helped people with various requests when you're a district. Yes, I did. So I didn't I didn't I got I didn't throw I didn't throw charges out. I gave him extra time to pay.

Okay. So we had this request to help out. Uh so officer web has been disciplined for repeated violations of police department's code of conduct. Repeated violations of burough civil service rules. Claims that this discipline is in retaliation for whistleblowing or disability are totally baseless. Uh the the complaints were forwarded to the DA's office. We inted to do a civil investigation of the noncriminal complaints. He would not cooperate. Uh it the decision here and the discussion with council never even said a word about whistleblowing or those complaints. It was all about the multiple violations of the police code of conduct uh and the civil service rules and regulations. Uh regarding the disability, we had a return to work note. We responsibly as any other department would do because all our officers carry guns. We want to make sure everything's okay before they go back, especially after a long-standing disability claim. Set up the fitness or duty IME would not go. Would not go uh would not provide records. We tried. We promptly set that up. Uh so it has nothing to do with disability. Actually, based upon what officer web gave us, he said he his note said he was ready to come back to work. We scheduled the fitness or duty. He wouldn't go. Then we scheduled the interviews for him to come in and he responded to one of the interviews saying, "I can't come in because I'm not cleared yet." So, one day he was fine, the next day he wasn't fine. Who knows? We don't know cuz he's not cooperating with us. Uh, and you talk about the ADA. The ADA requires a interaction, an interactive process between the parties where, and you know this, mayor, I've done hundreds of police disability cases. Almost every officer I've ever dealt with is totally cooperative as are their council. They provide their

medical records so we can accommodate a disability or work with them or examine a disability pension. So we that's what you provide the records for. We've had a refusal to provide anything. We've had a refusal to cooperate. We've had threats to the uh to the chief. We've had threats to the district justice. All this together forces a situation that caused a termination. that those are the reasons for the termination, not these fake screeds on Facebook, not retaliation, not anything to do with the disability. Those are the reasons why I think Can I ask him a question about something? I don't want to go back and forth. It'll be quick.

I'm I want you to draw your attention back to the first meeting we had. Okay. You were sitting to my left. I was at the end of the table. To your left was Chief Forest, Councilman, President DJeppy was there at the other end of the table and the Burough's manager was there. Okay. When when I said to you about that letter, I don't want to send this letter out because it's not the way I write a letter. I said to you, "Let me let me write my own letter explaining to him a date in advance and find out whether he would be available for that date rather than order him to it." Okay. Do you recall that?

Mayor, I'll answer your question. And I got to be frank with you. I I I think you're playing games here and I think you were playing games then because we would have worked with Officer Richie Webb. We sent him a letter saying the fitness for duty exam is this date. If he called up and said number one, he's on full pay, he's at home. He's at home. He's not working. But if he had a medical appointment that day and he really called us up and said, "Hey, can we switch this to Thursday?" We would have said yes. That that happens all the time. Mayor, at the time, my recall of this is you didn't want us to put any any date down. You just wanted to leave it open-ended. And we said, "We're going to send a letter out." If he had gotten back to us and said, "I need another day." we would have been fine.

I I specifically stated that I would send a letter with a date and time and far enough out and ask him if that date was available, please respond. I I got to be straight up. I don't know who you represent here because you're the mayor. I don't represent. You you appear to be getting involved in You're an officer of the court, right? And you say there's no retaliation. Going back to that meeting, do you remember when the chief mayor? I don't know who you represent here. You You appear to have You appear to have your own agenda. You appear to have your own agenda here. You're suing counsel. You're suing counsel. Okay. Do you remember when Chief stood up?

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN CHIEF Moore stood up? So, we got a motion on the floor and a second stood up and he all in favor said I do meeting a journal. The attorney was pointed at me and