Connoquenessing Township residents call for planning commission member’s removal
CONNOQUENESSING TWP — The municipal building was packed Wednesday evening, May 1, with many of the attendees calling for the resignation or removal of the chairman of the township’s planning commission.
At the supervisors’ meeting Wednesday, some residents accused Brendan Linton of publicly berating members of the township’s sewer authority, filing frivolous and costly right-to-know requests, and intimidating residents by carrying a firearm on his person. The board took no action.
“He’s hostile,” said township resident Christine Klink. “He threatens that he’s going to sue everybody. He says they have no qualifications. He degrades them all, and that is unacceptable behavior. And this has been going on for months and months.”
For months, Linton has spoken out regarding the township’s sewer system. Connoquenessing Township has been working for over a year to bring its sewer system up to the standards of Act 537, which requires municipalities to have a plan for addressing their sewage needs.
“The costs have skyrocketed to the point where the financial impacts are going to be tremendous,” Linton said. “It started out as a $70-$80-a-month bill, and it is now possibly $200 a month, because nothing has been done in a timely manner.”
This came to a head at a Connoquenessing Township Sewer Authority meeting in late April, when Linton lashed out repeatedly at sewer authority members, calling them, “ … the most grossly incompetent municipal authority in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Klink carried a recording of that incident with her to Wednesday’s meeting and played it for the supervisors and everyone else.
According to Klink, Linton seemed to have a special grudge against now-former sewer authority member Laura Mason. In the recording, Linton is heard calling Mason a “master manipulator” and said, “There is a special place in hell for people like you.”
“I cannot determine his mental capacity on why he singles out certain people,” Klink said. “All of them he has degraded tremendously. But he has been singling out this one individual. I do not know his reasoning.”
Mason resigned from the authority shortly after that meeting took place. While the supervisors made no official comment on why, residents implied that it had something to do with the comments from Linton. According to Carol Christner, this was a common occurrence.
“For months, he has berated the board in general, but primarily focused on Ms. Mason,” Christner said. “His witch hunt to prove how correct he is in the direction the board is supposed to work has now cost $19,000, and that doesn't include the cost to other governmental agencies.”
Multiple residents also took issue with the fact that Linton has been carrying a gun at township meetings.
“He has been argumentative, insulting and disruptive … yet he feels the need to carry a gun, which he has tonight,” said resident Larry Sumansky. “I don't know if it's for self-defense or an attempt to intimidate. If it's for self-defense, he needs to examine his own behavior.”
When asked why he carried a gun to meetings, Linton said that it was his constitutional right to do so.
Fifteen residents signed up to speak during public comment. Nearly all of them spoke in objection to Linton’s behavior. Linton also spoke to defend himself.
Some of the harshest words came from resident Ken Dambaugh, who accused the three supervisors of enabling and supporting Linton’s behavior even during Wednesday’s meeting.
“Myself and other residents observed you nodding in agreement on more than one occasion as Brendan tore down the actions and work of the CTSA,” Dambaugh said. “Please step up and be the leaders you were elected to be.”
Linton stood by his comments about the sewer authority.
“There are good people on the sewer authority,” Linton said. “The other members are grossly incompetent and have been led astray.”
Later in the meeting, supervisor Angela Fleeger told residents that the board was legally in no position to remove Linton from his appointments solely over what transpired at sewer authority meetings.
“At the CTSA meetings, he's not performing in an official capacity,” Fleeger said. “He's actually there as a resident. So therefore it is not something that we're going to be able to move forward on.”
However, the supervisors did express their concern with Linton’s behavior and said they would have a conversation with him in a future executive session.
