An outside attorney has concluded Franklin Park's former planning commission chairman, engineer and solicitor did nothing illegal when they had private meetings to go over the borough's zoning and land-use ordinances, the president of council said last week.

David Quatchak, former planning commission chairman and current councilman, believed he had the authority to call the meetings that resulted in nearly $20,000 in professional service bills that council knew nothing about and never approved, said council President Amy Sable in last week's council meeting.

It also appears everyone involved with the meetings had the borough's best interests at heart, she added.

Ms. Sable said she based that conclusion on a follow-up legal opinion prepared by the firm of Sainovich, Santicola & Steele. Council reviewed that report, commissioned in June, during a closed-door session before its regular voting meeting July 22.

That report, like its May 14 predecessor commissioned in April, is confidential, Ms. Sable said, adding the reports will be made public once council is finished with its investigation.

Council agreed to pay no more than $1,200 for the first report, and borough manager Ambrose Rocca said the law firm has told him the bill for the second report will be no more than $900.

According to that May 14 report, obtained by the Post-Gazette, Mr. Quatchak had no authority to call the meetings. In addition, the report suggested the borough look into the billing discrepancies between the engineer and solicitor.

The report also suggested the borough make changes to its accountability procedures.

Ms. Sable said council is still investigating the specific work that was done during the meetings, which were held at Mr. Quatchak's place of employment on Pittsburgh's South Side.

Council is also reviewing discrepancies in billable hours between the engineer and solicitor. The engineer billed the borough 72.25 hours and the solicitor billed 45.1 hours, she said.

During the time council was unaware of the meetings, its members unknowingly agreed during the course of business to pay about $13,000 in bills related to the meetings.

The meetings began in June 2009 when Mr. Quatchak, engineer Bob Nedzesky, solicitor Max Junker and Franklin Park zoning officer Tim Phillips met to discuss updates to the borough's zoning and land use ordinances. They then met twice through August.

The men, who were at times joined by the borough's parks and recreation director, Jim Watenpool, began meeting weekly in November. Council put an end to the meetings when they learned about them in February this year.

Ms. Sable said legitimate work was done at the meetings.

Laura Coombs, planning commission chairwoman, said the commission knew Mr. Quatchak was meeting with the borough's engineer and solicitor to discuss the ordinances, but the commission members didn't know how many times or how often the meetings were taking place.

She said she believes everyone involved acted professionally.

At one point during last week's council meeting, Councilman Ash Marwah tried to remove the Law Offices of Ira Weiss as the borough's legal council, but his motion died in a 3-2 vote. Councilman Andrew Hrishenko seconded Mr. Marwah's motion, but Ms. Sable and council members Jane Hopey and Dick Hartman voted against it. Mr. Quatchak was absent.

During an address to the audience last week, Ms. Sable said council should have taken a closer look at its engineering and legal invoices.

The borough has made several procedural changes to keep a similar oversight from happening again, she added.

Every council member will now get copies of monthly engineering and legal invoices. Previously, the borough finance committee reviewed the invoices.

In addition, every member of every agency representing the borough will get a handout each year that clearly states nobody can incur expenses without prior council approval. People who fill vacancies will get the handout as well.

"Mistakes were made," Ms. Sable said. "But nobody meant to harm the borough."

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