The threat of formal censure no longer hangs over the heads of Erie trustees.
The Erie Board of Trustees on Tuesday unanimously voted to prohibit the future use of censure as a form of punishment, while also repealing the censure of trustees Mark Gruber and Janice Moore.
Gruber and Moore recused themselves from Tuesday’s discussion and vote.
The past board in December narrowly voted to censure Gruber and Moore for failing to disclose to the board their role in helping a resident prepare an ethics complaint against former Mayor Joe Wilson last year.
The December vote was 4-3 and came after a highly charged discussion. Wilson, former Mayor Pro Tem Ronda Grassi, and former trustees Joe Carnival and Fred Mahe voted for censure, while Gruber, Moore and Trustee Dan Woog voted “no.”
Gruber, Moore and Woog remain on the board. Gruber and Woog won their re-election bids earlier this month. Moore, who is serving a four-year term, still has two years left on her term.
Wilson and Carnival did not seek re-election, and Erie voters didn’t send Grassi or Mahe back to the dais in the April 1 election.
Wilson accused Gruber and Moore of “grinding political axes” by meeting with Erie resident Elisabeth Fisher in March of last year as she assembled material to file an ethics complaint against the mayor regarding his involvement in land deals on the west side of town, then not informing the board that they had done so.
The former mayor was cleared of any ethics violations after a six-month investigation.
Fisher spoke Tuesday to urge the board to repeal the censure against Moore and Gruber.
“I’ve been accused by the (former) mayor and his former peer of being a co-conspirator … among other things,” Fisher said. “There was no conspiracy. I initiated the process, I researched the documentation and I filed the complaint. I would do it again.
“Please restore their good names,” Fisher said. “They deserve that.”
The censure of Moore and Gruber essentially amounted to formal disapproval of their actions. It carried “no repercussions other than the obvious or political,” town attorney Mark Shapiro said Tuesday.
The town has never established procedures for censure, and no such procedure exists in state statutes, Shapiro said.
Mayor Tina Harris said that while Tuesday’s board action wasn’t technically significant, it does set a standard that prohibits political retaliation among board members.
“I don’t want to look to the past and try to undo something that somebody else has done,” Harris said. “But I do think this is a positive move for us to move forward as a board.”
