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By CHRIS W. COLBY and GRACE DOVE; Times Leader Staff Writers
Thursday, December 10, 1998     Page: 3A

HANOVER TWP.- The Hanover Area School Board recessed its public meeting
Wednesday night to discuss a proposed tax break program secretly.
   
Board members then returned and delayed a vote on participating in the
program.
    The vote on Gov. Ridge’s Keystone Opportunity Zone program, which abates
property taxes to spur development, was on the agenda for the board meeting.
Right before the vote, board member Peter Halesey asked other board members
what the program is. Board President David Evans responded by saying the board
would “take a short recess” to discuss it.
   
All nine board members and solicitor Joseph Van Jura exited the meeting
room and went to a different room in the building away from the gathering of
about two dozen residents who attended the meeting. About half the audience
left during the recess !!!! .
   
The school officials returned seven minutes later and reconvened the
meeting. Evans then told the audience the board would remove the proposal from
the agenda. He said there is a limited time frame for the board to act and
board members need more information on the proposal.
   
The state Sunshine Act prohibits public boards to meet in private for
discussion of public matters except in a few specific cases- including pending
litigation, personnel matters and real estate transactions.
   
According to a publication by the Center for Local Government Services, a
conference to discuss a proposed ordinance or resolution attended by a quorum
of board members constitutes “deliberation of agency business” and is in
violation of the Sunshine law.
   
After the meeting, Evans said the item was pulled from the agenda because,
“There are some intangible things we still have to discuss.”
   
He said the program contains “an agreement that there will be no taxes for
12 years.” The School District has “a greater proportion of land that is
already suitable for development” and could generate tax money without the
Keystone program, he said.
   
“We’ll probably meet before the (Dec. 31) deadline to vote on it,” Evans
said.
   
Van Jura and Evans did not return messages left at their homes after the
meeting.
   
Next year, 12 Keystone Opportunity Zones will be set up throughout the
state to attract new businesses to blighted and mine-scarred areas. Many of
these areas are vacant and don’t generate tax revenues.
   
New businesses in the zones will be exempted from certain state