Etna trustee covers security cameras, says boardmate using them for 'surveillance'

The Etna Township Trustees have been fighting all year long and the latest spat is over recently installed security cameras after footage shows a trustee covering their ability to record.

The footage, shared on social media and with The Advocate by Trustee Mark Evans, shows Trustee Rozland McKee and management consultant Bill Vance covering the cameras with a plastic bag and piece of paper on Oct. 19.

In an interview with the Advocate on Nov. 29, McKee said she covered the cameras because she and township staff learned that day Evans had access to system and was surveilling the building and staff members.

"I have a report that is either 40 to 50 pages long and it shows him logging in and out of the system watching us. That's bad because these cameras were put in for security," she said.

McKee said she covered three cameras and then later removed the system based on advice from the township's attorney.

At the Nov. 1 meeting McKee and Trustee Jeff Johnson voted to contract with an investigator to examine the system and determine if it had been used for a surveillance purpose.

McKee said the first portion of the investigation has been completed and the findings — including a 40-50-page report — will be shared by the investigator at the board's next meeting on Dec. 6. She said additional investigative work is still needed to determine if the system was recording audio, which it was not supposed to do.

Evans said in an Advocate interview on Nov. 23 that he did not have access to audio, and that video clips he downloaded from the system's mobile app never had audio.

"If the concern was audio — whether it was being listened to — putting a Post-it note or a garbage bag over a camera does not negate audio," Evans said.

Evans said he was shocked when he saw the footage of McKee and Vance covering the cameras, adding that public officials shouldn't be covering anything.

"I think she just panicked because she was afraid, in my opinion, what she was doing was being documented, and she doesn't want people to know what she's doing," he said.

McKee said she has nothing to hide and she covered the cameras because Evans' viewing of the system was an "invasion of privacy."

The trustees unanimously approved the cameras during an Aug. 23 meeting. The cameras, which cost the township $9,260, were only supposed to be used for security purposes, McKee said. She added that herself and staff members are in the office every day and the building doesn't need to be constantly monitored by Evans.

"Our job is not to surveil a building," she said, "that's not his job."

McKee said the camera installation began Sept. 14 and was completed Sept. 22 after additional parts were ordered.

Evans said he noticed the cameras were active Oct. 6 and requested the system password from the security contractor, which provided it the next day. He provided the login information to the township Fiscal Officer Julie Varian via a phone call Oct. 9. Evans set up remote access through a mobile app on Oct. 15.

McKee said Evans and Varian were the only two township officials with the login information.

"Nobody was supposed to be in that system but the guy that was still installing the stuff," she said.

McKee, who is the board president, said once the system was set up, only the president of the board was supposed to have the log in information. It was to only be used if there was specific incident where the footage needed to be reviewed, McKee said, but they never got to that point in the process.

Evans said he logged in a few times to get familiar with the mobile app and set up the system. He said when he first logged in the camera angles were not labeled, so he named each of the cameras.

McKee said the system wasn't completely set up when Evans started logging into it.

McKee and township staff learned Evans had the password Oct. 19 after Evans, who already had the password, emailed the township secretary asking for the password to see if it would provided to him.

The township secretary, who did not have the password, contacted the security contractor, who informed her Evans had already been provided the password, according to emails provided to the Advocate.

At about 12:30 p.m. Oct. 19 township road crew members were directed to cover the cameras by McKee and township staff.

About a half hour later Evans logged into the system remotely and saw three cameras appeared to not be functioning correctly and thought it was technical issue. He said he reviewed the footage and saw the cameras being covered. He went to the township hall at about 2:20 p.m.

Evans uncovered the cameras asked the secretary and Vance what was going on and left less than 10 minutes later, according to a timeline of events provided by Evans.

Once he left, McKee and Vance recovered the cameras, which can be seen in the footage provided to the Advocate.

Evans said after he left the hall, he remotely accessed the system at about 3 p.m. to downloaded clips of McKee and Vance covered the cameras. He tried to access it again about an hour and half later, but the password had been changed at that point, he said. At about 7:10 p.m. that evening he went back to the hall to access the system in-person, but there was no access. Evans went back again on Oct. 22 but the the system had been removed at that point.

McKee said the system was turned over for the investigation and it has been kept safe since it was removed.

The cameras are still not back on, but McKee said the system will eventually be reinstalled.

mdevito@gannett.com

740-607-2175

Twitter: @MariaDeVito13

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Etna Township Trustees fighting over security cameras