Apollo Borough’s officials via their solicitor conceded today that Apollo Borough did nothing in searching for documents and preparing affidavits, stemming from a July 16, 2019, Final Order from the Office of Open Records in a contempt hearing held at the Armstrong County Courthouse today, August 19, 2021.
An evidentiary hearing scheduled on January 15, 2020, which gave the borough an additional 14 day's time to respond still produced nothing. A Compliance Hearing in February 2020, which allowed the borough an additional month still produced nothing, forcing Plaintiffs' Scott and Janet Brunermer, to file a Motion for Sanctions and Other Relief in March of 2020. The court then ordered for each party to write and submit briefs, giving Apollo Borough’s legal representation two extra months due to COVID.* The Plaintiffs’ attorney, who took less than a week to answer, fast tracked the Motion, or so the Plaintiffs’ believed. Instead, Plaintiffs’ were left waiting for several months for the court to render a decision. Plaintiffs’ then filed a Petition for Civil Contempt in September 2020.
Several continuances, many months of county court closure due to COVID, and scheduling conflicts led to today’s overdue Contempt Hearing. The Contempt Hearing, which proved that no documentation or affidavits, still had not been given, over two years later**.
Plaintiffs’ have allowed Apollo Borough another 21 days to produce the affidavits*** and documentation, after which, the Plaintiffs’ attorney will have time to answer.
Plaintiffs’ hope for a final resolution by the end of the year.
*, **, ***, - I will share these court documents in a future post. You can see them, and read, them, but they require that you pay for some, and create a PACER login for others. Thanks to 'Scott6969" for pointing that out. I didn't think anyone would notice. D, Scott, you're on top of things.