Shikellamy agrees to move forward on process to find 'day-to-day' solicitor

Feb. 9—SUNBURY — During a heated debate about searching for a "day-to-day" solicitor, Shikellamy School Board members agreed the district should search for a request for proposal and prepare a job description for the position.

During Thursday's work session, Director Tom Webb continued his push to get a solicitor who attends board meetings, executive sessions and is accessible to other members.

Webb, who won a special election in November, said he ran part of his campaign on getting a solicitor in the district who attends meetings.

Solicitor Mike Levin, of the Levin Legal Group, of Philadelphia, does not attend meetings on a regular basis, and has only been present a handful of times since he was hired in 2019.

Directors Julie Brosius, Joe Stutzman and Jenna Eister Whitaker, along with Webb, have regularly requested the board open the position and bring in a local attorney.

Webb brought the issue up during the work session, which led to a heated discussion with himself and board President Wendy Wiest.

Wiest eventually polled the board and asked who was in favor of tasking Superintendent Jason Bendle with finding an old request for proposal so the board could look it over and come up with a job description before putting the position out for bid.

Webb, Brosius, Stutzman, Director Mike Thomas and Wiest agreed and Bendle was instructed to gather the information.

Webb told Wiest he did not have a problem with Levin remaining with the district for contract negotiations if they so choose.

Director Lori Garman said she was not in favor of getting a new solicitor and wanted to stay with Levin.

Webb also requested Business Manager Brian Manning provide all detailed legal bills from Levin since the day he started in 2019.

Webb said after the meeting he was happy and thankful the process is moving forward.

"After I receive the billing, I will do a comprehensive breakdown to see the cost savings to hire a local competent solicitor that will be present at all board meetings and executive sessions," he said. "I hate to beat a dead horse, but I attended a Pennsylvania School Board Association training in State College and listened to discussions on school board law. The speaker mentioned 26 times to all the directors they should refer to their solicitor.

"There were 14 school districts represented at the session, and Shikellamy was the only one without a solicitor at every meeting and not on retainer."

Levin does not have a retainer with Shikellamy and charges as he is contacted, according to district officials.

Levin charges $210 per hour. If he attends meetings, he is paid travel time.

District officials decided they wanted to show the public legal fees were mounting because of Right to Know requests. Some members said they wanted to list the names of those who made requests that cost the district thousands.

The biggest cost to the district was Right to Know requests made by The Daily Item, which were forwarded to Levin from Bendle for review.

Levin denied some of the requests, including a request to unredact a completely redacted document.

The district and the newspaper landed in the state Office of Open Records. The state agreed with the newspaper and the district was ordered to turn over the detailed unredacted bills.

Webb said the district did not get a refund from Levin after the decision favored the newspaper.

Levin's bills showed $43,727 from January through November 2023 for the requests seeking information on various topics.

About a third of the total — $14,903 — was accrued in response to public records requests made by The Daily Item.

Directors meet again on Thursday for a regular voting meeting at 7 p.m. inside the administrative building on Packer Island.