Metro

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in an order issued Monday, has denied further hearing on an appeal filed by a public interest group from Hollidaysburg that contended a committee appointed by Borough Council to review funding for the local fire department committed multiple violations of the Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Law.

The Phoenix Volunteer Fire Department Committee was formed upon the conclusion of a federal investigation into the theft of $1.5 million from a $5 million grant that was to help recruit firefighters for 32 area volunteer fire departments.

Two officials of the Phoenix Fire Department were charged with the theft.

A former chief of the department was placed on home detention, while a veteran firefighter served time in prison.

The committee was to make recommendations if the borough should continue its funding of the department.

The Hollidaysburg Community Watchdog, a community interest group “to deter misconduct and corruption in local government,” was upset that the committee’s meetings were closed to the public.

However, Borough Council on Dec. 9, 2021, decided to continue funding for Phoenix.

On March 22, the leader of the Watchdog, Richard Latker, filed a civil complaint against the borough, its manager and council members, challenging the funding decision based on the many violations of the Sunshine Law that led to the decision.

The Watchdog agreed that the meeting at which council approved the continued funding for the fire department was open to the public and in conformity with the Sunshine Act, but it challenged the ultimate decision because of alleged Sunshine Act violations by the fire department committee.

Hollidaysburg Borough filed preliminary objections to the Watchdog complaint and the issue went before Bedford County Judge Thomas S. Ling, appointed to hear the case in the Blair County Court of Common Pleas.

Ling ruled in favor of the borough.

“The difficulty for Latker is that even if he is correct that improper negotiations preceded the vote taken at a duly advertised public meeting, that will not give rise to a claim under the Sunshine Act.

“The Sunshine Act does not authorize courts to invalidate official action taken at a subsequent public meeting that conforms to the Sunshine Act’s requirements based on an earlier, improper, closed-door meeting,” Ling stated in his opinion.

He dismissed the Watchdog complaint.

Latker appealed the Ling decision before

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court.

In July of last year, a ruling by Commonwealth Court Judges Anne E. Covey, Patricia A. McCullough and Renee Cohn Jubelirer supported the Ling decision.

In an opinion written by Covey in July 2025, it concluded that, “Short of fraud … most any Sunshine Act infraction could be cured by subsequent ratification at a public meeting. Otherwise, governmental action in an area would be gridlocked with no possible way of being cured once a Sunshine Act violation was found to have occurred.”

Her opinion concluded, “Similarly, here, because Borough Council presented (the Fire Department) Committee’s proposal at the December 9, 2021, public meeting, any purported Sunshine Act violation by the Committee was cured.”

The Watchdog did not give up.

Latker sought a rehearing of the issue before a full panel of the Commonwealth Court, which on Sept. 9, 2025, was denied.

He finally requested a review of the ruling by the Supreme Court, which on Monday stated, “The petition for allowance of appeal is denied.”

Latker commented that he wasn’t surprised by the order.

The state’s high court, he stated, accepts for review less than 1% of those issues presented by public interest groups.

He felt there was an “absolute zero chance” that the state’s top court would hear a direct appeal to overturn a ruling that received the unanimous approval of an appeals court panel, he explained.

The Hollidaysburg case was just one of many instances in the past couple of years that the Watchdog has investigated instances of alleged corruption in government, Latker reported.

“The Watchdog is still breathing,” Latker declared.