And now the Bucks Local News version
Victor Cicero abruptly resigns from Morrisville Council over issue of destroying meeting tapes
By Petra Chesner Schlatter
BucksLocalNews.com
MORRISVILLE -- Morrisville Borough Councilman Victor Cicero abruptly announced his resignation last night after council voted to table a motion to dispose of video recordings of public meetings, while also allowing Mayor Rita Ledger access to previously requested videos.
Immediately after the matter was tabled by a 4-3 vote, Cicero stood up and announced, "I'm resigning!"
Cicero, who had made the motion to destroy the tapes, said, "Good night. I don't know why I got involved. What are you afraid of? What a bunch of fools. I've never seen anything like this in my life."
When asked by phone Tuesday morning if he was indeed resigning, he would only say "I will not be at the next meeting."
Ledger said she had been asking for tapes from 2009 -- particularly November and December -- but hadn't been able to gain access to them despite several requests.
"I still haven't gotten any copies," she said at the meeting. "How can they be destroyed before copies have been given to somebody who has requested this twice?"
Borough Solicitor Todd Eisenberg said the recordings would be available to her before they are destroyed.
Eisenberg discussed the legality of disposing of recordings. He said the state publishes a document every couple of years, which outlines how borough records can be disposed of.
"One of the regulations is that video tapes of meetings can be disposed of after the minutes are approved unless the council finds there is a historical significance in keeping them," he said. "Most of the municipalities that I know destroy them after the minutes are approved."
Eisenberg said, "If a person, not just the mayor, wants them right away and we do not have the ability to make the copies we can send them out and have the copies made."
Ledger said those who request a copy should not have to pay if the borough sends the recordings out for a copy to be made.
Before his resignation, Cicero asked if the borough has the legal right to charge for a copy and Eisenberg said, "Absolutely."
Eisenberg said he would provide more information on the history of the disposal of recordings "so everyone will have a better feel. You have the right to get rid of these tapes. It's just an issue of, 'Do you want to?'"
Borough Council President Nancy Sherlock said prior administrations had conversations on this matter.
"There's no reason to have six, seven or eight boxes of all these tapes," she said.
Sharon Hughes, president of the Historic Morrisville Society, has been videotaping council meetings since she was told the borough's recording equipment was not working. She has volunteered to broadcast and record meetings for years.
"Why are you afraid? What is the word up there, we might be sued? Somebody's asking for tapes now and all of a sudden we have to have them destroyed? They've been sitting there for 14 years," said Hughes.
"They are a historic record of what this board has done...They are the history of this town. They are the history of this borough," she continued.
Hughes challenged the idea that Morrisville should be like other municipalities and destroy the recordings right away.
"Somebody wants records and other people up there don't want them to have them," she said, stressing that a decision should not be made quickly.
"It's not the right thing to do in my opinion," she said.
In a phone interview Tuesday, Mayor Ledger said she wanted the tapes for prosperity's sake.
"I'm the first woman mayor," she said. "I would like to keep the tapes of meetings that I preside over. It would be great for future generations of your family to see it ... and it is a way of making everyone accountable for their actions."
She would not offer comment on Cicero's resignation.
Sherlock said the issue would be discussed at council's Tuesday, Oct. 12 meeting.
"In Febuary 2009, council approved a motion declaring its intention to follow the schedule and procedures for disposition of records as set forth in the municipal records manual that that was approved on Dec. 16, 2008," Sherlock said in a phone interview Tuesday. "Since the resolution has been passed it is our duty to follow the guidelines ... We are not able to dispose of anything the commission deems historic or necessary to keep."
In other news, Ledger reported that she and former Mayor Lee Rockafellow met recently with the Bucks County Parks and Recreation Department about the future of the Morrisville Swimming Pool. They did a walkthrough of what was once a thriving facility, but is now a crippled community hub following a major flood. The community pool has been closed ever since.
Ledger said she will find out whether the county will work with the borough on getting the facility back in shape and open to the public.
The council also:
Awarded the 2010 Emergency Generator Bid to the low bidder, A.C. Scott Electric & Testing Co. for $80,000.
Appointed V.K. Macivana to the Morrisville Economic Development Authority.
Re-appointed John Eperjesi, Patricia Wilcox, Patricia Brofman and Lillian Piscopo for two-year terms to the Recreation Advisory Board.
