Spending still drawing Hempfield board's attention
By Richard Gazarik
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, June 29, 2007
A Hempfield Township supervisor is proposing a plan to make its municipal authority more accountable to the public.Doug Weimer said he will ask authority members to turn in their authority-issued credit cards and will require them to pay travel expenses for national conferences or state seminars with their own credit cards or by check or cash. They will then have to submit itemized receipts for reimbursement. …… Weimer's proposal comes as the board of supervisors is seeking municipal authority credit card and expense records, including:

• Expenses for trips that members have charged for conventions in San Antonio and San Francisco and conferences in Hershey and Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Fayette County.
• Alcohol purchases at national conferences and unknown purchases at several local bars by some members.
• Payment for airline tickets to Atlanta when there was no convention scheduled in that city.

The supervisors are demanding the resignations of authority members Robert Regola Jr. and Brian Melenia after they attended seven conferences in one year, racking up charges of $8,000, according to Davidson. Cards also were issued to general manager Rege Ranella, Kathy Hopkin and Matt Pecarchik. …… Davidson complained that the Hempfield authority has had three key staffers resign over the past three years and three more had been fired, leaving authority members available to make the trips. He said authority employees who work in administration have not received annual raises because the money to pay them has been spent on travel.