Council approves two-year contract for Cadau, will seek forensic audit of finances

SHENANDOAH – Shenandoah Council approved a contract to keep Mike Cadau as borough manager for two years. Council also approved seeking a forensic audit as concerns have been raised and debated about borough hall’s day-to-day operations.

Monday night’s council meeting was reminiscent of Shenandoah politics of old, with discussions becoming heated on numerous occasions.

The meeting was also the first council meeting to be livestreamed, aired on the Shenandoah Borough Hall Facebook page.

Concerns discovered, officials say

Council President Joe Boris and Cadau both echoed concerns which Cadau says he discovered upon taking the office earlier this year.

“For some of the people sitting at home, some of them don’t know what’s going on, and some of them only hear stories on the street,” Boris said.

Boris reiterated the issue in which the borough failed to pay property taxes owed to the Shenandoah Valley School District, providing a brief outline. He said Council Vice President Mike “Zeckie” Uholik questioned former Borough Manager Tony Sajone about why the issue hadn’t been brought to council, noting that Sajone owned it, quoting him saying “there are no excuses, that’s my fault.”

Recently, Boris said another issue with the school district has emerged.

For at least a decade, the borough has assigned a police officer to the Shenandoah Valley School District as a resource officer and has been reimbursed by the school district.

The last invoice submitted by the borough to the school district, however, was for the fourth quarter of 2023. No invoice has been submitted, thus no reimbursement has been received, since. Cadau said there are issues with how payroll has been calculated, making it difficult to determine the next steps.

While the school district has established its own police department with two officers, the borough officer has remained at the school.

Boris said school officials reported calling Sajone multiple times to no avail.

“Why was that neglected,” Councilman Joe Gawrylik asked. “Is that from the last council, they didn’t pay attention, they didn’t have meetings…”

“It looks like the last time they were paid was right prior to Mr. Boris taking office as president,” Councilwoman Katie Catizone said. Boris, Gawrylik, and Uholik were sworn in in January 2024.

Boris outlined money he believed Sajone was responsible for costing the borough:

• $32,054, back taxes to SVSD;
• $6,007 interest to SVSD;
• $2,025 late payments to Union Township taxes;
• $5,736 for the 2024 school/county taxes that should’ve been exempt;
• $1,843 failure to pay the IRS penalties;
• $900 for solicitor’s fee, which Boris did not specify what for.

Boris also mentioned that the wind turbine and cell tower lease funds have been going to the former Municipal Authority of the Borough of Shenandoah (MABS) office near Raven Run instead of borough hall.

“If I wasn’t here today, I don’t even know if we would be talking about this,” Boris said.

Boris cited an audit provided by Sam Deegan CPA, the borough’s former auditor, that he said raised doubt with the continued solvency of the borough. As of this week, the auditor is no longer working with the borough.

When Boris concluded, in a departure from the published meeting agenda, Gawrylik began questioning Catizone, a former council president.

“This was under your watch, you were the president when most of this happened,” Gawrylik said. “How come you didn’t have meetings, how come you didn’t negotiate with council.”

“What are you talking about,” Catizone responded. “I had meetings every month.”

“They must’ve been minimum,” Gawrylik said.

“State statutes state that your municipal legislators are not to interfere with the day-to-day workings of the borough and, in my opinion, there are entirely too many people on this council who are constantly interfering in the day-to-day operations of this borough, Catizone said.

“Because we keep our eye on it and we won’t let it escape. It escaped for four years,” Gawrylik said as the two began to engage in shouting.

In his borough manager’s report, Cadau outlined the issues he said he’s discovered since taking office, repeating many of the same claims disputed in Sajone’s letter to the Sentinel. Cadau’s report was published as-presented as a rebuttal.

Cadau inks contract, ‘not a political thing’

Council approved a two year contract with Cadau by a 4-2 vote. Boris, Gawrylik, Uholik, and Diane Korenda voted yes, while Catizone and Mike Whitecavage voted no. James Burke was absent.

“This is not a political thing. We put a guy in here to do the job,” Boris said. “If these people thought Tony did a great job, that’s fine, that’s their personality…”

Whitecavage interjected, refuting the latter portion of Boris’s statement.

“No, don’t put words in my mouth Mr. President, it was the way we went about it, I have nothing wrong with the borough manager at present,” Whitecavage said before responding to heckling from the crowd.

“I agree, it’s not about you, Mr. Cadau,” Catizone said.

“My reasoning was, I think it should’ve been advertised, go through the personnel committee with people that were interested in the job, not just handpick one person,” Whitecavage said.

Boris admitted that he selected Cadau, but said he provided Cadau’s resume to all of council.

“No other person in this borough had the opportunity to apply for a full-time borough manager’s job,” Whitecavage said.

Calls for a forensic audit, ‘[if we’re wrong,] we’re going to get sued’

Whitecavage called for a forensic audit and investigation instead of the ongoing in-house investigation as a way to protect the borough. He raised concerns that many of the grievances are being aired in public.

“What you’re throwing out there, what happens if what you’ve found comes back and it isn’t true,” Whitecavage said to Cadau. “Now we need to protect the borough because Mr. Sajone is going to come back and sue us.”

He asked Solicitor Shane Hobbs if the matter should be in a third party firm’s hands, which Hobbs said was a difficult question.

“If something comes back and they find out what you just said against a person by name is wrong, we’re going to get sued,” Whitecavage said.

Whitecavage and Cadau engaged in a brief shouting match.

“Your buddies voted you in, that’s fine,” Whitecavage said.

“My who,” Cadau asked.

“It should be handled by a professional,” Whitecavage said.

“Well get one,” Cadau said. “Get one.”

“Well advertise for one,” Whitecavage said.

“They won’t come near the borough, they won’t come near the borough,” Cadau quipped. “You know, you have a big mouth. They won’t come near the borough. They won’t come near the borough.

“You’re not the professional auditor. You were hired as a secretary treasurer, you didn’t even get voted in as a borough manager yet because the vote didn’t take place until later tonight,” Whitecavage shouted back at the same time.

“Listen to me, you’re throwing it out here, and I’m just saying I’m here to protect the borough, Whitecavage added. “There should be a professional doing that investigation.”

Hobbs responded to Whitecavage, noting that Sam Deegan is no longer the borough’s auditor and an auditor is also needed for the final MABS audit, as that auditor quit previously.

“We’re all trying to fix things here, but it hits a point where maybe it should be handled — there are some items that should be handled by a third party or turned over to the police if we feel that is the case,” Hobbs said.

“We’re trying to look for answers and I know people are concerned,” Boris said. “All’s we’re doing is trying to inform the public what the hell is going on, and if that’s a crime, I’m sorry.”

Catizone raised a motion to add to the agenda advertising for a forensic audit. Whitecavage seconded. The motion passed unanimously, as did the vote to approve advertising for a forensic audit.

Code officer calls for decorum

Jim Flail, the borough’s code enforcement officer, remarked on the state of the borough in his report.

“Instead of arguing and fighting, you’d like to just say ‘Hey, I have an idea, would anybody like to go with this,'” Flail said. “It doesn’t seem to work here. It’s just to the point where you don’t say much, you do it.”

“You want to be a borough, work together, make it easy,” Flail said. “When I first got here, I couldn’t get cards, a badge, I used my own vehicle because ours are a joke.”

“You want to take care of certain things,” Flail said. “Working together and coming up with an idea to do it collectively is a lot better than nonsense, whether I’m a town guy, an out-of-town guy, I came here the first day, I worked my ass off, and I still do.”

Other business

In other business, council approved a can collection for Shenandoah Valley Girls Basketball and a request from the Columbia Hose to have their block party. Dates were not provided for either.

Several handicapped parking applications were approved and council hired Arielle Garcia as a secretary again.

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