MAHANOY PLANE - The Gilberton Borough Council met in executive session Tuesday night for an undisclosed reason, although the attendance of special counsel attorneys indicated that the meeting was to discuss suspended police Chief Mark Kessler.
The executive session, which was not advertised, met at 7 p.m. and included all seven council members, Mayor Mary Lou Hannon and attorneys from the law firm of Elliott Greenleaf & Dean, which was retained as special counsel to handle any legal matters involving Kessler. The law firm was hired at the council's special meeting Aug. 14.
Four people who had heard about the meeting through social media came to the municipal building and stood outside, since the public is not allowed into the executive session.
"A little support won't hurt," said Mahanoy Plane resident Mary Lou Gutsie. "I saw it on social media. I thought there might be lots of people here."
Gutsie came out to support Kessler for several reasons, including his work as a police officer and his support of the U.S. Constitution.
"I just support him, period," Gutsie said. "I have no problem with him as a chief and never had any issues with him when I needed him. So he got on YouTube and he cursed and he shot guns. Whoop-de-do. These people (council and mayor) do way worse by lying than he ever did."
The council voted July 31 to suspend Kessler for using borough weapons in the videos without the council's permission. Kessler has said that he did have permission.
On Tuesday, Trish Adam, her son, Scott Adam, and his fiancee, Kalina Reinhard drove an hour from Leesport to show their support. During the trip, Trish Adam drew a sign that read, "Kessler for the people & and we stand by Mark."
"I'm going to support him," she said.
A special council meeting may be held Friday, which is the 30th day of Kessler's suspension.
"I'll be here on Friday if I know there is a meeting," Trish Adam said. "We actually have someone, in law enforcement, no less, that still stands by the oath that he took."
"He has a passion for what he does," Scott Adam said.
While regular and special public meetings must be advertised in a local newspaper of general circulation, Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel with the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said Tuesday that the Sunshine Act does not require advertising executive sessions.
"The Sunshine Act never requires executive sessions to be advertised," Melewsky said. "They can be standalone. They can come in the middle of the meeting, before a meeting or at the end of a meeting, or they can be their own date and time. They're not required to be advertised."
Melewsky said that when an executive session is scheduled, there is a requirement that the members of the "agency," such as a borough council, board of supervisors or school board, must be given at least 24 hours notice.
"They have to publicly announce the reason for the executive session either before the executive session takes place or at the next regularly scheduled public meeting after the executive session takes place," Melewsky said. "And it has to be more than just 'personnel' or 'real estate' or 'litigation.' They have to tell the public enough information to determine whether the session was appropriate."
The Sunshine Act can be read on PNA's website at panewsmedia.org/legal/openmeetings/sunshineact.