By Francis Scarcella
The [Sunbury] Daily Item

SUNBURY — A former city councilman has filed documents in Northumberland County Court to terminate a lawsuit he brought against Sunbury and Mayor David Persing.

In April 2013, Joe Bartello filed suit against Persing and the city because he discovered a meeting was to take place about the code department and he felt it was going to be a violation of the Sunshine Law.

Bartello used to be in charge of the code department and had become involved in a dispute with Moran Industries, of Watsontown, over alleged violations at the former Celotex site.

The meeting was planned to discuss what information had been gathered by the code department about licenses and permits at the Moran site. A former Sunbury resident claimed Moran should owe the city about $2.6 million for fines, fees and permits, and Bartello was asking to get the permit situation resolved.

Persing had issued a memo about the meeting and invited Bartello, employees of the code department and one other councilman, but later said he decided to cancel the meeting. Bartello contended the meeting would have violated the state’s open meetings law and asked a judge to rule on the issue, but since Persing canceled the meeting, no ruling was ever made.

Bartello, who was represented by Sunbury attorneys Kymberley Best and Tim Bowers, said he achieved his goal by getting the meeting canceled so there is no need to continue with that part of his lawsuit, court documents said.

Judge Charles Saylor also was set to rule on whether Persing conducted a legal investigation into Bartello’s city-owned computer after Persing received a right-to-know request from a Jersey Shore law firm representing Moran Industries.

Moran was seeking information believed to be on the computer about his property, and Persing seized Bartello’s lap top and sealed it as evidence.

Before Saylor could rule, city solicitor Michael Apfelbaum agreed to limit the search to the information being requested by the law firm. Bartello also had the option of being present during the search.

In Wednesday’s filing, Bartello said he achieved his goal because after Bartello filed the lawsuit, Persing halted the investigation into the lap top.