CP southwest chairman stands up to water authority

West View Water Authority post brings ethics filing
Water authority chief is named to authority board
Thursday, July 19, 2007

By Len Barcousky, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The president of West View council, who is employed as executive director of West View Water Authority, has begun wearing a third municipal hat -- prompting a conflict of interest charge.

West View council July 11 appointed Daniel M. Daugherty to one of two vacancies on the West View Water Authority board.

The next day, borough resident James W. Barr filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission.

Mr. Barr's complaint charges that Mr. Daugherty already faced potential conflicts of interest by simultaneously serving as council president and as the Water Authority's paid executive director.

Those conflicts can arise because borough council, which Mr. Daugherty leads, appoints members to the authority board, which oversees Mr. Daugherty's work as executive director.

By appointing Mr. Daugherty to the authority board, West View council has made the potential for conflicts even greater, Mr. Barr charged.

"Isn't there another person in the borough who could serve on the authority?" Mr. Barr asked.

A 25-year resident, Mr. Barr is a perennially unsuccessful candidate for West View council. In the fall his name will appear for the eighth time on the ballot, this time on the Constitution Party line.

Mr. Daugherty abstained in the 5-0 vote council took July 11 selecting him to complete the term of the late Harry Gruener, who died June 24 at age 86. Mr. Gruener previously had served as a West View council member and borough manager.

Another vacancy on the five-member Water Authority board opened July 3, when David R. Glavin died. Mr. Glavin, 81, a former president of the Allegheny County Labor Council, had been a member of the authority board for 19 years.

Mr. Daugherty said his decision to serve on the Water Authority board had been reviewed by lawyer Fred Baxter, who serves as solicitor to council and to the Water Authority.

Mr. Daugherty pledged to abstain from any votes on council or on the Water Authority board in which he would have a personal interest. None of the other members of the board is an employee or a member of council.

Mr. Daugherty earns about $113,000 as executive director of the authority. Members of council and of the Water Authority both receive small stipends, but Mr. Daugherty said he is not eligible for either because he already gets a salary from the authority.

Mr. Barr predicted Mr. Daugherty would not be able to be an active and effective member of the authority. "He is going to have to abstain from most of the votes," he said.

The Water Authority and its work force both need broader representation, he said. "There is too much nepotism involved," he said. In his complaint, Mr. Barr wrote that four of the current six members of West View council have children who work for the authority. Council is made up of seven members but has a vacancy.

Councilman Barry G. Schell defended the decision to name Mr. Daugherty to one of the two vacant slots. Other municipal agencies and businesses have their top executives also serve on their governing boards, he said.

The loss of two authority board members in little more than a week made it critical that at least one of the empty positions be filled quickly, he said. "The board couldn't really conduct its business with two vacancies," he said. "And we didn't have any other candidates in mind."

Mr. Schell invited any West View resident interested in serving on the authority to send a resume and letter of application to West View Borough Council, in care of Manager Kenneth J. Wolf, 441 Perry Highway, Pittsburgh 15229.

The fifth seat could be filled as soon as council's next meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 8, Mr. Schell said.

The State Ethics Commission has a policy that it will neither confirm nor deny even the existence of a complaint while it is being investigated or studied by a hearing officer, according to an agency spokeswoman.

Only if the allegations in a complaint are found to be credible would the commission issue a public order. The quasi-judicial process usually takes several months.

While West View is a small community of about 7,300 surrounded by Ross, the West View Water Authority is a regional giant.

The authority supplies drinking water to about 200,000 customers in 31 municipalities in Allegheny, Beaver and Butler counties. Its treatment plant on Neville Island can purify and pump up to 40 million gallons of water per day.