HARRISBURG, Pa.--Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced Thursday that no further charges will be filed as result of a final grand jury report into the financing of the Harrisburg incinerator debacle.
The probe dates back to 2013. It resulted in hundreds of charges against former Mayor Stephen Reed in 2015. Most of the charges against Reed were thrown out due to statute of limitations. He plead guilty in January 2017 to 20 counts of receiving stolen property and was sentenced to probation.
The Grand Jury concluded that that the financial projections underlying the incinerators certifications in 2003 and 2007 were extremely flawed and that the financial decisions by the Reed administration were dominated by a desire to incur new debt in order to discharge old debt.
As a result, the Grand Jury said the citizens of Harrisburg and future city leaders have been left with a legacy of oppressive debt.
To avoid something like this from happening again, the Grand Jury made seven recommendations:
- Amend the Commonwealth Attorneys Act to permit the Office of Attorney General to investigate and prosecute city, county and municipal officials and employees for crimes involving public corruption.
- Amend the statute of limitations regarding public officials and employees to clarify what events or occurrences will commence the running of the period of limitations.
- Amend the law governing the appointment of individuals to the boards of municipal authorities to limit the number of boards on which an individual may simultaneously serve.
- Amend the Commonwealth's Ethics Act to safeguard the public's interest by imposing certain restrictions when municipal officials or employees move from public employment to the private sector.
- Amend the Public Works Contractors' Bond Law to restore the requirement originally contained in that statue: that contractors who were performing work on any sort of public building or other public work or improvement obtain a performance bond at one hundred percent of the contact amount.
- Enact suitable legislation requiring that local governments specifically, third class cities operating under the mayor-council Plan A form of government, must seek public bids for professional services.
- Amend the provisions of the General Local Government Code which govern debt statements, specifically, previously self-liquidating or subsidized debt to permit DCED to more closely examine and verify the contents of the same and to take suitable action where a statement has not supplied accurate information or is otherwise deficient.