CLEARFIELD – Recently a motion for preliminary injunction was recently filed on Clearfield Borough Mayor Patty Gilliland’s behalf. The motion asked the court to temporarily restrain the borough from enforcing its security policy.
On July 14 Clearfield County President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman ordered that the request for temporary injunction prior to evidentiary hearing be and is denied.
The order states that the court does not believe under the circumstances as described within the motion for preliminary injunction that Gilliland will suffer immediate and irreparable harm if the court does not enter a temporary injunction.
The order gives both sides time to file paperwork with the court. Following the conclusion of the pleading stage the sides will contact the court to figure out how much time is needed for a hearing, which will then be scheduled.
Gilliland and council have been at odds over a number of items publicly for over a year now. Gilliland attorney, Glenn J. Smith, noted in a recent letter to the editor to Gant, that the mayor wants full, unconditional and unlimited access to the police department.
This comes from a police department security policy that borough council enacted in March 2008. Gilliland responded, asking council to revoke the motion and rescind their directive.
Council stood behind their policy and amended it on Thursday night. Prior, council had agreed to change the layout of the police department, moving the chief’s office to the front of the building and centralizing the officers. According to Council member Fred Wisor, the recent change in policy opens more of the station up to the mayor. He noted that the only areas off-limits to the mayor, for security reasons, are criminal records and evidence.
Wisor and Council member Susan Reed pointed out that the security policy pertains to everyone; council members, the public, the mayor, the solicitor and so on.
Gilliland, who is attending the Mayor’s Conference, was not present at Thursday’s meeting, but in her report, she noted that she was opposed to any voting on the amended directive for the police department. She stated in her report that she was never notified about any meeting’s regarding the borough operations manager’s contract or the police department directive.
Gilliland said in her report, “Please read your code manual. The mayor has the right to be included in all borough meetings and business. I have been made aware of very few if any.”
Wisor indicated that the issues were discussed at a recent committees meeting.