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NANTICOKE — A decision on how to deal with a state Supreme Court ruling that said police Chief Thomas Wall was hired illegally rests with the mayor, the solicitor said Wednesday night.
Attorney William Finnegan met with city council behind closed doors in executive session before the start of its work session and meeting to discuss the case. There was no public discussion on the ruling that came down earlier this week and Mayor Nicole Colatosti-Mackiewicz did not attend the meeting.
“The only thing that I can say for the record is our labor counsel Jack Dean has briefed the mayor with regard to options and the mayor’s gotta make a decision in the next couple days as to how she’s gonna proceed,” Finnegan said after the meeting. “There should be a decision one way or the other as to which way we’re going with it in the next couple days.”
Finnegan did not go into detail about the options, but summed up the situation that the city must deal with. “This is an issue under the home rule charter where it’s an interpretation of what the mayor’s powers are with regard to the police chief,” he said.
Colatosti-Mackiewicz’s predecessor, the late Richard Wiaterowski named Wall, a retired state trooper, chief in 2016, prompting the Nanticoke Police Officers Association to legally challenge the appointment.
In its lawsuit, the police union claimed the hiring violated state law which said the chief must be chosen from within the ranks of the department, but if no suitable candidate could be found internally, then the city could look outside. The union maintained the internal search was skipped even though Lt. Michael Roke expressed an interest in the spot left vacant with the death of Chief William Shultz in August 2016.
The union also raised Wall’s position on the city’s Police Civil Service Commission as a possible conflict of interest. Wall’s wife, Donna, was interim city manager at the time of her husband’s appointment. She remains in that position and was excused from Wednesday night’s council meeting.
In August 2018, Luzerne County Judge William Amesbury sided with the union in the suit and directed the city to name a new chief by Oct. 1, 2018. However, Wall remained on the job while the city appealed the judge’s ruling. The state’s highest court Tuesday affirmed Amesbury’s order.