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4 of 5 Union Township supervisors resign

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Union Township government has been hit with mass resignations.

On Monday, four of the township’s five supervisors submitted resignations: Heather Daerr, who was the board chair; Charles Trax Jr., vice chair; Richard Lawson and Michael Barna.

That leaves Michalle Dupree as the township’s lone supervisor.

None of the former supervisors nor Dupree were available for comment Wednesday.

The resignations came the same day that Sweat Law Firm of Washington resigned as the township’s solicitor, a position the firm had held since 2016.

“I’ve been a municipal solicitor for 40-plus years, and I have never seen a municipality, in terms of its network of professionals and elected officials, deteriorate as quickly and as rapidly as Union Township,” said attorney Gary Sweat.

Sweat said there have been other recent resignations as well, including the accounting firm of Palermo/Kissinger & Associates, and the township’s two representatives to the Peters Creek Sanitary Authority – Harold Breinig and Frank Latorre.

Business continued to run as usual at the township on Wednesday, with office staff at their posts and the road crew on the job.

Sweat said there was a divide on the township board of supervisors, plus the township has been involved in costly litigation over the last year-and-a-half.

“People go on the offensive when they run for office, and then you would hope they would understand what their role is once they’re elected, and they would work with those who are across the aisle even though they didn’t vote for them. That’s the democratic way,” Sweat said. “This just never happened.”

Sweat added that a group of residents would attend meetings and make negative comments toward him and the supervisors who have since resigned. He said they even sported T-shirts that read, “No Sweat,” with a line through the O.

“It was this environment that was just so toxic that it became difficult to transact business,” Sweat said. “There was an attack and harassment at every level. It became an uncomfortable and unhealthy situation. I feel bad for the residents of Union Township because so many good things have occurred.”

Sweat said the township will have to file a petition with the court to have four supervisors appointed to fill the vacancies. The supervisors’ terms were to expire in 2023, with the exception of Trax, whose term was up in 2025.

The next scheduled meeting of the township supervisors is Oct. 26 at 5:30 p.m.

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