Heated exchanges in West Middlesex

May 13—WEST MIDDLESEX — With the slam of a gavel, West Middlesex Council President Eric Lucich threatened to have Mayor Stacey Curry removed from Wednesday night's council meeting if she didn't stop talking.

That was just one of several ruckuses during council's work session this week. Council members had heated exchanges a number of subjects that included accusations of not being informed of a "private" meeting held by some councilmen, treatment of borough employees, prospects of the borough merging with Shenango Township, a proposal on combining the Shenango Township and West Middlesex volunteer fire departments, and council's overall conduct.

Councilman Bill Novak said he was disappointed by the actions of other council members, whom he didn't identify by name. He said there were council members on a committee weren't communicating with the rest of council.

"Our town is falling apart and I'm ashamed of that," Novak said. "I've now lost all confidence in some of your ability to remain objective as well as not being self-serving."

Curry also gave a statement saying she wanted residents to know she's been above board in her conduct as mayor.

"I think the time for transparency is absolute right now," Curry said.

She indicated that borough employees may have been bullied but didn't specifically say by whom.

"I had no part in any intimidations of employees," Curry said. "I don't like bullies. I'm not going to tolerate bullies. I'm not going to deal with bullies."

As the meeting continued, Curry said that Lucich and Councilman Dave Moyer had met with officials from West Middlesex Area School District and Shenango Township, but did not share information from that gathering with the rest of council.

She demanded to know what the meeting was about and what transpired.

Both Lucich and Moyer said the meeting didn't involve discussing a possible merger between the two communities. But neither gave details about what transpired.

"It had nothing to do with consolidation," Lucich said.

Curry pushed for an answer but Lucich ruled her out of order and threatened to have the mayor removed.

There was a discussion about council and Curry meeting with the West Middlesex fire department about consolidating with the Shenango Township fire department. No meeting date was set but Lucich — who is a member of both West Middlesex and Shenango Township fire departments — indicated he wanted it in the near future.

West Middlesex fire department members told council that they were welcome to attend the next fire department meeting, which drew a scoffing response from Councilman Bob Lark.

"We were thrown out the last time we attended a meeting," Lark said.

Council also discussed a recently completed state study, which recommended the consolidation of both fire departments.

Council met in executive session after the meeting to discuss personnel issues.

West Middlesex Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday for its voting meeting, when it will consider actions including appointing a council member to replace Michael Williams, who resigned last month.

Two candidates — Ron Preston and Tim Webster — have applied for the vacancy. Preston is a former councilman who ran unsuccessfully for re-election last year. Webster has served on the borough's sewer authority.

Discussions Wednesday indicated that the remaining four members of council are split between Preston and Webster, which would leave Curry to cast the deciding vote.

The mayor said after the meeting that she hadn't made a decision.

"There's no way around it," she said. "No matter who I choose, I'm going to make some people mad."

She urged residents to attend council meetings to air their opinions.

"I think it's very important to be involved in our community and ask council members for answers to questions," Curry said.