web1_Nanticokelogo.jpg

Some Nanticoke students face new discipline policy, metal detector, clear-bag rule

web1_Bill-Barrett.jpg

Councilman worried street-sweeping deal could take WB to the cleaners

<p>WYOMING &#8212; Borough Mayor Joseph Dominick is claiming taxpayers are out tens of thousands of dollars after funds were inappropriately handled in the purchase of police cruisers.</p><p>Dominick even claims one of the vehicles was purchased with the forged signature of a council member.</p><p>His allegations initially were made at the borough&#8217;s monthly council meeting on Monday night.</p><p>During the meeting, a video of which is available on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz_6iPfJh-A" target="_blank">YouTube</a>, Dominick described an investigation he performed after things started to not add up in regards to the department&#8217;s four police cars.</p><p>Dominick further explained the story to a Times Leader reporter later in the week.</p><p>According to Dominick, things started to unravel when borough council planned to sell one of two 2016 Ford Explorers owned by the police department, as the borough&#8217;s embattled former manager, Tamra Smith, had allegedly told council that it had completed paying off the two vehicles.</p><p>The problem, Dominick said, was that this was incorrect. He said the borough owed more than $19,000 between the two Explorers.</p><p>Upon further investigation, Dominick said, even deeper issues were found with the department&#8217;s most recently purchased vehicle, a Dodge Charger.</p><p>Dominick said the borough was under the impression the Charger had been paid for through a grant, with the police department even going so far as to refer to it as the &#8220;grant vehicle.&#8221;</p><p>This, too, he said, was not true.</p><p>Dominick said the purchase order for the Charger was made in December 2017, shortly before he took office. The only documentation leading up to the purchase of the Charger, Dominick said, is through email correspondence between former police Commissioner Michael Flanagan and former Mayor Bob Boyer.</p><p>&#8220;There are no meeting minutes where the vehicle was ever discussed,&#8221; Dominick said.</p><p>Still, though, a loan company was provided with a document supposedly written by council president Stephen Nalewajko, but Nalewajko emphatically stated during Monday&#8217;s council meeting the signature on the document was not his.</p><p>Dominick is claiming that someone must have forged the document.</p><p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t know who did it, but two people were involved in the purchase,&#8221; he said. Those two people, he said, were Smith and Flanagan.</p><p>The Charger was shipped to the borough in February 2018, with the leasing company that provided the vehicle immediately beginning to ask for the council minutes that documented the purchase of the vehicle.</p><p>Dominick said Smith provided the minutes for the April 2018 meeting to the company, under the false pretense that a line item for the Ford Explorers actually related to the Dodge Charger.</p><p>While talking to a Times Leader reporter, Dominick repeatedly remarked about what he characterized as a &#8220;gross mismanagement of funds,&#8221; amounting to around $38,000 just related to the vehicles.</p><p>&#8220;This borough is like an onion; you keep pulling back layers and finding something wrong,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Dominick said the information was forwarded to both the Pennsylvania State Police and the Luzerne County District Attorney&#8217;s Office, asking the parties to investigate the alleged forgery.</p><p><strong>History</strong></p><p>This is not the first controversy in Wyoming to involve either Smith or Flanagan. Both resigned from their respective positions last year while the borough became involved in an investigation by the Pennsylvania State Police for missing financial records and unexplained purchases from both the Wyoming Free Library and Wyoming Hose Co. 1. </p><p>Additionally, Flanagan pleaded guilty last year to theft charges, after he was accused of stealing equipment from the now-defunct Laflin police department which he formerly headed.</p><p>Efforts to find contact information for Smith and Flanagan were unsuccessful Thursday.</p><p>Boyer, previously identified as Smith&#8217;s boyfriend, had his home searched by law enforcement last year for evidence linking a state grant application by the borough to his catering business, run out of a neighboring volunteer fire company&#8217;s hall.</p><p>Boyer has claimed no wrongdoing, and no charges have been filed against him.</p><p><strong>Boyer fires back</strong></p><p>When reached late Thursday, Boyer balked at Dominick&#8217;s claims of forgery.</p><p>&#8220;Dominick&#8217;s a moron,&#8221; he said bluntly.</p><p>According to Boyer, Dominick&#8217;s whistleblowing is nothing more than a political stunt in an attempt to distract from what Boyer thinks is Dominick&#8217;s inability to fulfill campaign promises.</p><p>Boyer said he knows nothing of any forged signature being used to purchase the car, additionally stating he did not sign off on the purchase of the vehicle as this is something in the purview of council.</p><p>&#8220;He should be working on fulfilling his campaign promises instead of slinging mud,&#8221; Boyer said of Dominick.</p><p>Dominick did say things aren&#8217;t all bad in relation to the vehicles; the department will be able to keep one of the Explorers thanks to a generous donation by Robert Bresnahan of Kuharchik Construction.</p><p>The construction company donated $5,000 to the borough, which the borough then matched to pay off one of the Explorers.</p><p>Bresnahan, when talking to a reporter, seemed to think of the donation as his civic duty.</p><p>&#8220;The last thing people need is to have the police be unable to do their job,&#8221; he said.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Boyer.CMYK_.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Boyer </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Boyer.CMYK_.jpg</photo0><caption0>Boyer </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Dominick_mug.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dominick </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_Dominick_mug.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dominick </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Patrick Kernan</p><p>pkernan@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Wyoming mayor alleges irregularities in police car purchases