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York Co. Commissioner calls for investigation of Dover Township Sewer Authority

A York County Commissioner wants an investigation conducted into the actions of the Dover Township sewer Authority. Commissioner Steve Chronister says members o...

A York County Commissioner wants an investigation conducted into the actions of the Dover Township sewer Authority. Commissioner Steve Chronister says members of the authority abused their power and bullied a small, minority-owned company by stealing money from the company.

Commissioner Chronister held a news conference Thursday calling for local and state investigations into the Dover Township Authority, their engineer, and solicitor.

Allegations
Commissioner Chronister said that during a 13 million dollar upgrade of the Dover Township Waste Water Treatment Plant in 2010, the general contractor made a mistake, which caused a delay and as a result cost the plant money. He said this also obstructed the work of the electric sub-contractor, Pro- Electric.

Chronister said that the Authority then singled out the weakest company, Pro- Electric, by keeping their deposit.

“Give their money back. They have a half a million dollars sitting there, of their money, that they won’t get back; and as you see the project has been completed,” said Commissioner Chronister.

‘We did the work. We put the deposit down. They should give it back,” said Owner of Pro- Electric, Deb Rinehart.

Rinehart said because of a comment from the Township’s engineer, during a bond meeting, her bond company backed out. In turn, Rinehart said she had to leverage her home and other assets to put forth the deposit. Rinehart said she believes the authority is fighting her, in hopes that she runs out of money and the ability to fight them for it.

Chronister said he will do what it takes to resolve the issue and send a warning to elected officials and authorities. ” I don’t want to see anybody else go through this. It’s protection for when a David meets a Goliath. I will be sending letters to our District Attorney, Attorney General, Auditor General, Department of Environmental Protection and the FBI and their Political Corruption Unit,” said Commissioner Chronister.

Response
Chairman with the Dover Township Sewer Authority, Dean Smith said he sent a letter in response to Chronister’s initial complaint letter. Smith said he requested to meet and discuss the matter, but Chronister never responded. He said he believes that Chronister is involved for his own political gain. Smith would not elaborate because of the pending litigation, but said there is much more to this story.

Nothing criminal
The York County District Attorney’s office looked into the matter a few months ago and determined it is not a criminal matter.

 

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