Monessen council declares controller position vacant

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
Monessen will either be looking for a new city controller or, as one councilman fears, talking to a judge about council’s move to oust the sworn-in official this week.
Council voted unanimously to declare the elected positions of controller and treasurer vacant under the advice of Solicitor Tim Witt, who cited Third Class City Code.
Witt said the code requires elected city controllers and treasurers to submit affidavits of residency and proof that they are bonded.
Elected officials who handle municipal tax dollars are bonded as sort of a financial insurance to protect the city from any financial loss.
Witt said elected treasurer Gerald Saksun and controller Maria Scuteri, who was appointed last year to fill the remainder of Wayne Vlasic’s term, did not complete the required paperwork. Vlasic was elected to the position of magisterial district judge in November.
Saksun and Scuteri have both been sworn in and taken their oaths of office, but Witt said the oaths were invalid because the paperwork is required to have been completed before the swearing-in process.
“It seems to me it would be in council’s best interest to work diligently to assure that the controller and the treasurer are in fact bonded and meet all the requirements,” resident Ron Mozer said. “And, if there’s a problem with them not meeting those, that should have been brought up a long time ago and it should have been addressed.”

See video from Tuesday’s council meeting on our website at www.monvalleyindependent.com