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By MARK GUYDISH; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Sunday, January 26, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1 





HAZLETON -- Two closed door meetings held last week by council and the
mayor to resolve the budget impasse were illegal, media lawyers said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 The state Sunshine Act requires, with limited exceptions, council meetings
be held in public. Council met behind closed doors Jan. 17 and 20 to resolve a
budget dispute with Mayor Michael Marsicano about his proposed partial city
shutdown. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Council members, council legal adviser Charles Pedri and new city Solicitor
Robert Powell all said the meetings were private because they included
discussions on potential litigation, one of the exemptions allowed by law.
Marsicano said he would take the budget dispute to court if it wasn't resolved
by Jan. 21. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 But Theresa Vitzthum, Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association legal
counsel, said the very nature of the mayor's threat meant the meetings had to
be public and not held in private, or "executive" sessions. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Council can only hold an executive session on litigation matters to discuss
strategies to be used in an existing or imminent lawsuit, Vitzthum said. In
this case, the closed-door sessions were held to negotiate a resolution that
would avoid the lawsuit -- not to discuss strategies about the lawsuit itself,
Vitzthum said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The facts on which a lawsuit could be filed must exist at the time the
executive session is called. Those facts did not exist here because the mayor
could only file a lawsuit if a resolution was not reached by Tuesday,"
Vitzthum said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Burt Rublin, attorney for The Times Leader, sent a letter to Pedri
complaining about the meetings. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The potential adverse litigant (Marsicano) and the attorney representing
his interests (Powell) were in attendance at both meetings, belying any notion
that City Council discussed a confidential strategy to respond to the
potential litigation threatened by the mayor," Rublin wrote. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Pedri defended the decision to hold private meetings, noting an associate
from his law firm was present Jan. 17 because he was out of town. Pedri also
said the threat of litigation justified the executive sessions. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Council called the first meeting within an hour after Marsicano ordered all
city employees, except fire personnel and police, furloughed. Marsicano and
Powell said the budget passed by council on Dec. 30 was illegal. Marsicano
said council's failure to act on his Jan. 13 budget veto forced him to shut
down the city. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Closed Meetings Illegal, Lawyers Say Possibility Of Lawsuit Justified Closed-door Sessions On Budget Impasse, Says Hazleton City Council Adviser