Published: September 28, 2005 11:47 pm      

Meyersdale council member quits

MEYERSDALE — A councilman abruptly resigned within days of a council meeting during which a part-time resident heatedly demanded an overhaul in borough government.

Fred Dickson, attending his first meeting, had called for the immediate resignation of three officials – police Chief Ron Ackerman, Councilman Simon Ackerman and borough Secretary Patty Ackerman.

“My intent is to hold everybody here accountable for the big picture,” Dickson said at the Sept. 13 meeting. He waved a stack of borough minutes with at least a dozen orange markers where he said he had found fault.

Six days later, Simon Ackerman turned in a letter of resignation.

Council is to vote on whether to accept the resignation at its next meeting on Oct. 11.

Ackerman said that Dickson’s approach was the culmination of mounting problems he has faced in his most recent stint as a councilman.

“I’ve just had enough,” Ackerman said. “It wasn’t directly tied to the meeting, but it was the last straw.”

The 72-year-old also served on council from 1987-95, sitting as council president four of those years.

“In a year and a half, we have accomplished nothing as a borough,” he said. “Outsiders are running the meeting.”

Dickson said the three Ackermans’ relations create a conflict of interest. Simon and Ron are brothers, and Patty is Ron’s wife.

Simon said he has abstained from voting on matters involving police and the borough secretary.

“There is no conflict of interest,” he said. As to Dickson’s other claims, Ackerman said he is unsure.

“I don’t know,” Ackerman said. “I’m not an attorney.”

Borough Solicitor Ken Johnson said no regulations ban family members from holding offices in the same municipality.

“Actually, it’s hard to avoid that kind of thing,” Johnson said.

If council members accept Ackerman’s resignation, they will have 30 days to appoint a new member, who would hold the post until January 2008, he said.

Patty Ackerman said she is not considering resigning.

Ron Ackerman, police chief for at least five years, said he may retire early next year.

“This is something I have wanted to do for a quite a while,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the meeting.”

Dickson started his rhetoric with a story about a little boy in the borough: “He asked me, ‘Mister, are you going to get rid of the rats in my house?’ ”

Dickson said he is out to clean up the borough, and not just a rat problem.

Borough Council members said Meyersdale is not perfect, but neither is any town.

They wanted to know more about this sudden advocate. Dickson answered that he is just a concerned citizen.

Dickson, who purchased the borough’s Levi Deal Mansion, started a Clarksville, Md., property development company. He is restoring the mansion and has bought other borough properties with intentions of improving their value, he said.

So far, Dickson said he has reviewed meeting minutes from the past two years. He said that he, a lawyer and other experts may end up requesting minutes from meetings a decade ago. Dickson wouldn’t say whether other Meyersdale residents are involved.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” he said. “They know we’re coming now.”

Among Dickson’s contentions is that the borough’s trash contract with Harbaugh Trucking is illegal because it has not been rebid in years.

“There was an admission by (Simon Ackerman) that it’s illegal,” Dickson said.

According to minutes from an Oct. 26 meeting, Simon Ackerman said a state official pointed to the refuse contract as against regulations.

“Ackerman reported to council that the borough is in violation of Section 1402 of the Borough Code regarding contracts,” it reads. It continues to say the borough solicitor was to examine the issue.

Johnson said he has reviewed the contract and it is not illegal.

“We bid the original contract and it allows us to mutually grant extensions,” he said. “(Dickson) is under the impression that we have to rebid.”