Somerset County treasurer requests judges to reconsider decision favoring commissioners

Judy D.J. Ellich, The Daily American
·4 min read

Somerset County Treasurer Anthony "Tony" DeLuca wants a do-over.

Somerset County Treasurer solicitor David Leake filed a motion requesting the three county judges reconsider their order for declaratory judgment in favor of the Somerset County Commissioners in a dispute between the county and the treasurer over the investment and deposit of county funds.

The Somerset County Court of Common Pleas judges on Feb. 15 issued their unanimous findings after each side requested the judges issue a declaratory judgment in the case for them. The judges did so sitting en banc, or "on the bench," which pertains to all judges of a particular court hearing a case when they believe that the matter before them is especially complex or important.

What:Judges decide for commissioners in dispute with treasurer over investments

"During my tenure I have never experienced anything like this," Commissioner Pamela Tokar-Ickes said in an earlier interview. "I would never have expected to sue another county official."

She is in her fifth term in her position as a county commissioner. She served four terms as a commissioner, from 2000 to 2015, before choosing not to run for re-election in the 2015 cycle. She chose to seek a fifth full term in office in 2019 after she was appointed to serve out the final few months of the term of Commissioner John P. Vatavuk, who had died.

In a motion filed Feb. 24, Leake listed where the treasurer "takes issue" with those judges' interpretation of the law and facts used in their reasoning. The treasurer asks them to reconsider and to favor the treasurer in the dispute in what is known as a motion for post-trial relief in response to the judges' opinion.

The judges — President Judge D. Gregory Geary, Judge Daniel Rullo and Judge Scott Bittner — sitting en banc decision called a declaratory judgment was done to determine the rights of the treasurer and the county without ordering anything be done or awarding damages, which is a process that allows the court to nip controversies in the bud.

One side:Taking it to court: Somerset County Commissioners vs Treasurer, an exclusive

However, according to solicitors from both sides, this dispute is far from over.

If the judges grant DeLuca's request, the county will appeal that decision to the Commonwealth Court. If the judges deny the treasurer's request, the treasurer will appeal that decision to the Commonwealth Court. From there, whichever side loses before the Commonwealth Court will more than likely appeal the decision in order to move it to in front of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, according to both solicitors in earlier interviews.

In this latest legal move, the treasurer lists about three dozen items and the reasons why the judges should reconsider their decision in those.

Background on the case

At public meetings Sept. 13 and Oct. 11, commissioners Tokar-Ickes, Gerald Walker and Colleen Dawson unanimously adopted resolutions to deposit county funds for investment with identified public institutions. DeLuca declined to transfer the funds with the reasons he was not involved in the drafting of those resolutions, did not consent to them and did not sign them.

On Oct. 18, the county filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against DeLuca as the county treasurer.

On Oct. 28, the county amended their complaint to include judicial relief pertaining to online access to the county's bank accounts. DeLuca had removed the online permissions for the commissioner's fiscal department to view or access the county's accounts with First National Bank. He made the decision claiming that the commissioners should go through his office to view and to modify banking and account information.

One side: Treasurer Tony DeLuca: Commissioners not absolute authority over county government

On Oct. 31, the county treasurer office filed an answer to the county's suit and a counterclaim asking the judges for a declaratory judgment for that office.

Some items that need reconsideration

  • The county code gives the treasurer a role in the management and administration of the fiscal affairs of the county, thus DeLuca is not "completely excluded from any role in the area of management and administration of the county's fiscal affairs."

  • The language that "the county commissioners together with the county treasurer shall, from time to time, designate, by resolution, a depository or depositories for all county funds to be deposited, means that "the county treasurer does have authority in designating county depositories and does not exclude him from the process," according to the reconsideration appeal.

  • The treasurer takes issue with the "misapplication" of two of the sections of the county code "in its interpretation that the resolutions to deposit county funds for investments are different from selecting depositories for all county funds."

  • The treasurer takes issue with the judge's interpretation that "within the (state) statute the Treasurer's duties are ministerial in nature and not discretionary." Otherwise, that only in narrow exceptions the treasurer would have discretionary powers in signing, approving or refusing transactions.

  • The chief clerk of the county may review information straight from the depositories, however, the commissioners are not granted access to the accounts independent of the treasurer, according to the treasurer's motion.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset treasurer asks judges to reconsider finding for county