Spring Township Staves Off Recusal Petition
A township official's apparent prejudice against Wal-Mart's plan for a new store and the township solicitor's hostility toward company witnesses aren't grounds to require the officials to recuse themselves, a Berks County judge has ruled.
The Arkansas-based retail behemoth filed a petition in Berks County Common Pleas Court seeking an order recusing the Spring Township Board of Supervisors and the township solicitor from proceedings on the company's conditional use application to build a Wal-Mart Supercenter near Reading.
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Berks County Common Pleas Judge Scott E. Lash denied the petition as untimely, noting that Wal-Mart passed up several appropriate occasions to object to both Dallas' and Lillis' conduct. The company did not file its petition until it was faced with a subpoena to produce documents germane to its application.
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Barley's Keith Mooney served as appointed special counsel for Spring Township and is to be congratulated for achieiving a fine result for his client.
Lash also rejected the company's request to have the board of supervisors as a whole dismissed, noting there was no evidence provided in support of the claim the board was impartial.
