Douglass Settles Suits With Former Supervisor

A two-and-a-half year legal dispute between the township supervisors and a former supervisor is winding down.

Verdict? Nobody wins.

Except the lawyers. They always get paid.

Monday night, Anthony Sherr, a lawyer for the township's insurance carrier, outlined a settlement of the legal battle between Douglass and former supervisor Fred Thiel.

The supervisors sued Thiel in June of 2014, seeking nearly $37,000 in damages for the debacle of Mountain Mulch and Thiel's alleged granting of permission for the former composting operation to take debris from Superstorm Sandy.

The mulching operation and Thiel are both gone, but the lawsuits lingered.

Not one to take a challenge lying down, Thiel countersued later the same month, seeking $100,000 in damages and revealing that, former township solicitor Paul Bauer had forced him from office and tried to prevent him from ever running again.

Then, as happens with these things, there were depositions, hearings, motions, and before you know it, two years have passed, everyone is sick of it and no one but the lawyers have any money any more.

So what we know so far is that the township's insurance company will pay $18,000 of Thiel's legal fees and the township itself will pay its deductible of $2,500, said Township Manager Peter Hiryak.

Sherr also said that the settlement includes language indicating Thiel's suit was "without merit."

Although the supervisors voted unanimously for the settlement, it is not a public document until the settlement is "executed," said Township Solicitor Robert Brant.

So until that happens, we won't have any further details.

"When a settlement happens, often, not everyone is happy," said Brant. "But the supervisors are cognizant of spending the people's money and they have decided its in the best interests of the township," he said.

And now, here are the Tweets and videos from the rest of the meeting...

Mulch Update and Drug Drop-Off

It was another briskly moving supervisors meeting Monday night as the three supervisors and stuff conducted the township's public business in just under an hour.

There were no major issues on the agenda, and no major issues came up, other than the ubiquitous Mountain Mulch.

Solicitor Paul Bauer reported the company, now nearly a month past their deadline to vacate the Sassamansville Road location, asked for permission to work "dusk till dawn" to remove the giant mulch piles that remain.

The township declined and has instead asked a Montgomery County judge to begin levying sanctions against the company for failing to live up to the terms of the agreement among the company, the township and the long-suffering neighbors.

Below, find the Tweets from the meeting, as they happened.

Honors and Mountains of Mulch

Photo by Evan Brandt

Members of the Gilbertsville Fire Co. listen to awards being given to Chief Rick Smith and Harvey Price for serve that, combined among the two, adds up to more than 90 years.

Photo by Evan Brandt

Fire Chief Rick Smith, left, and Harvey Price.

Last night's meeting of the Douglass (Mont.) Board of Supervisors was quite but
fruitful.

State Rep. Marcy Toepel, R-147th Dist., was on hand to provide awards from the House of Representatives to longtime firefighters Rick Smith and Harvey Price.

Together the two of them represent more than 90 years of service to the residents of Gilbertsville. "It doesn't seem that long," said Price.

Then the board got down to some less pleasant business at hand.

The agreement with Mountain Mulch to leave their operation on Sassamansville Road and find a new place to do business expired on March 31.

But they're still there, as neighbor Karen Keyser attested.

So the board has decided to seek sanctions from the county court.

But it may all be moot.

Dave Yusko told the board he is hoping to sign an agreement of sale for the property within several days and return it to its former agricultural use and raise horses there.

All expressed the hope that this happens soon.

Here are the Tweets from the meeting.