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Donora’s civil service commission voted Saturday to uphold the firing of former police superintendent Jim Brice.
The commission held its final hearing at the borough building’s banquet hall following two prior hearings in January and February. The ruling split 2-1, with members Kim Leaver and Brian Pivovarnik voting to uphold Brice’s dismissal while alternate member Ed Locker voted to overturn it.
Brice and his attorneys said they plan to appeal the decision to the Washington County court system. “We fully intend to challenge this ruling,” Attorney Massimo Terzigni said.
Multiple area police officers came to support Brice during the hearing, including Monessen Chief David Yuhasz, Charleroi Chief Chad Zelinsky and Charleroi Officer Marcus Richardson.
“I worked with Jim Brice years back,” Yuhasz said. “He taught me what I know — his department is where I got my start.”
“There’s tons of guys who developed under Jim Brice, myself included,” Zelinsky said.
Councilman Joe Greco, who sits on the commission, recused himself from the vote and did not attend the final hearing.
Brice’s attorneys requested that Greco recuse himself at the onset of the hearing process. They cited a case in which a Pennsylvania judge ruled an “individual who brought the accusations should not have served on the commission deciding the appellant’s appeal because it created an appearance of bias.”
Because Greco voted to fire Brice and levied accusations against him, Brice’s attorneys argued that Greco should go with other witnesses,
BRICE • A4 FROM A1 who were sequestered when not called to testify.
However, Attorney Megan Turnbull, who mediated proceedings, denied the request after Greco refused to recuse himself.
In the second hearing, attorneys again requested Greco recuse himself. Turnbull said there would be a deliberation on the matter prior to the final hearing.
With the exception of Saturday’s hearing, Greco sat on the commission, hearing multiple testimonies before and after providing his own. Locker, who sat with the commission as an alternate, filled the vacancy left by Greco.
Brice’s appeal came shortly after the borough remade its civil service commission in late 2022. Council had discovered the previous civil service commission — the body that oversees police employment — didn’t comply with state law.
The borough had a civil service commission in name, but members weren’t sworn in and didn’t meet regularly. Council dismantled the former commission and established a compliant one in its place.
However, major dissent arose over new member selection. Many residents felt silenced when council ignored requests to reinstate previous commission members. Instead council, under Greco’s guidance as Public Safety Chair, appointed new members.
Hearing background
Donora council fired Brice from his role in August after 42 years of police service. Accusations against him remained unknown until January when the commission held its first appeals hearing. The borough brought a dozen accusations against Brice, including claims that the former superintendent refused to take directives from council, drank on the job and allowed his son unauthorized access to police data systems.
Attorney Chris Gabriel represented the borough and brought a number of witness testimonies before the commission, including former mayor Jim McDonough, council President Mike Mc-Dowell, retired officer Keith Charlton and current Officer Mike Parry.
Most testimonies relayed stories about difficulties working with the former superintendent, alleging instances when he failed to follow council directives or neglected to provide adequate support to officers in the field.
Among witnesses, Parry provided the most damaging accusations. During Parry’s testimony, Gabriel exhibited surveillance camera footage of Brice and his son in the police department. In the video, Brice’s son appears to access license plate data on police databases.
The video also shows the younger Brice taking out his phone and holding it up to take a picture of the computer screen.
On the stand, the younger Brice suggested that at the time he was not accessing the license plate reader in an official investigatory capacity.
Parry said after seeing the footage, he looked up the search history on the database, and claimed Brice’s son — who is not an officer — had used an officer’s login information to access the data.
Brice’s son worked as a turnkey for the police department and obtained Commonwealth Law Enforcement Assistance Network (CLEAN) certification.
Parry argued the clearance “lets you be in the room,” but suggested the younger Brice didn’t have legal access to police information on the department computer. According to psp.pa.gov, CLEAN clearance allows an individual to “access driver license and motor vehicle information, state criminal history record information maintained in the Pennsylvania State Police Central Repository, the Commonwealth’s central registry for Protection from Abuse orders, “hot” (stolen and wanted) files, law enforcement messaging capabilities and a host of other services.”
The code adjudicating the clearance requires that access be restricted to specific police work and sets high penalties for individuals who don’t act with discretion or share private information.
Parry also cited two instances in which he claimed Brice was drunk on the job — once in person and once over the phone. In both instances, Parry claimed Brice slurred his speech and overly repeated himself.
Brice’s attorneys defended their client against accusations, challenging each on individual grounds while arguing a larger political narrative lies at the heart of the case.
In May 2020, some council members and McDonough attempted to oust Brice, citing an ordinance that placed an age limit on the superintendent position. However, after some debate and procedural issues, council unanimously repealed the ordinance in response.
In July 2020, Brice said Greco requested then-borough administrator Terri Petroske to draw up a new contract for Brice. Brice refused the new contract, arguing it allowed council to fire him at any time and stripped him of departmental benefits.
In August 2021, council voted to reinstate the police chief position in the borough — a role that had been vacant throughout Brice’s three decades as superintendent. Members said they wanted to facilitate a smooth transition whenever Brice finally did want to retire.
Council originally appointed Parry to the position, but due to conflicts with the department’s collective bargaining agreement, ultimately stripped Parry of the position and appointed current Chief Neal Rands.
Brice claimed his strained relationship with Greco, a former police officer, led to false accusations and the attempts at removal.
The borough offered Brice the chief position in 1988, after he’d been with the department for eight years. He said he originally rejected the offer because of his lack of seniority.
“At the time, Joe was the senior guy,” Brice said. “He had a lot more years than me. … I turned it down.
“When I turned it down, they told me to think about it. They approached me a second time and I said, ‘No, I don’t want it.’ So they said if I didn’t take it, they were going to (find) someone outside the department.
“Eventually they said, ‘You can take an acting chief role and see if you like it or see if it’ll change your mind.”
Greco denied charges of animus during his testimony, and said he holds high respect for Brice, calling him “one of the top five police in the county” at one point.
“He was the best in the game, the best in the police force,” Greco said. “He was. “I’m testifying that he lost control of his men.”
Brice’s firing and appeal mirror Greco’s firing from the department in the 1980s. Donora residents recently shared reports from the former Valley Independent on social media, revealing that council fired Greco on “charges of insubordination and conduct unbecoming of an officer.”
One article states Greco’s dismissal 40 years ago “stemmed from (his) employment as a Ringgold School District security guard.”
Another article states that Greco was dismissed from the department after state police charged him with perjury in a case involving the murder of Officer Alfred Calzacorto Sr.
Greco appealed the dismissal and was ultimately absolved through the Washington County court system. On Facebook prior to the hearing, Brice said his legal process has been long and costly and thanked residents who’ve supported him and his family.
“It’s just so time consuming and I know Greco is trying to wear me down money wise with no income,” he said. “But I have been supported by many, many friends with donations and I can’t thank them enough.
“If I win my lawsuits against the borough, I plan on returning all of the donations back to those who donated to keep our family going in a rough time. I really appreciate all the support I have gotten, and I want to thank each and every person for their love and support. It has been an unusual ride but because of so much support, I’m doing OK.”
Brice will run for council in November along with four other candidates. Three seats are up in this year’s election.
Administrator resigning
Additionally, Donora officials revealed Saturday that Borough Administrator Lewis Morrison will resign from his position, citing health concerns.
Morrison stepped into the role after council promoted him from bookkeeper early this year. The position had been vacant for months after administrative officials resigned en masse in early 2022.