Controversy accompanied a proposed vote by Pine Township on Monday to cap possible legal fees in the fight to overturn a state permit to reopen the Tri-County Industries landfill, which sits in Pine and Liberty townships in Mercer County.

Tri-County Industries is owned by Ed Vogel, an Adams Township supervisor who also owns the Seneca Landfill in Jackson Township.

Pine residents and members of the Citizens’ Environmental Association of the Slippery Rock Area (CEASRA) asked Supervisor Chairman Richard Stachel to recuse himself from the vote because of a prior relationship with Vogel and an arrangement he tried to make with Liberty on legal fees. Stachel declined to do so.

Supervisors eventually tabled the vote on the resolution to cap the legal fee reimbursements to Liberty to $10,000 during the public phone meeting.

Pine supervisors are among three appellants to the Environmental Hearing Board asking to overturn the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s permit for the landfill. All three supervisors voted in January to join Liberty and CEASRA in the appeal.

However, Pine Supervisor Bill Pritchard told the Eagle that Stachel privately sent an email to Liberty saying Pine no long wanted to engage Marc Valentine, the attorney for the appeal, but would instead reimburse Liberty for legal fees up to $10,000.

Additionally, members of CEASRA claimed that Stachel has a conflicting relationship with Vogel, who previously appointed Stachel to the Adams Township Planning Commission decades ago.

Stachel said Tuesday that he was still in favor of joining the appeal.

In the meeting, he read a statement saying he offered a limited amount of reimbursement to Liberty to save Pine money because the financial challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic will likely affect the township’s 2021 budget. He also said he did not want Pine to be financially responsible if other appellants could not come up with the legal funds.

“I was starting to see a lot (that was) out of control at how the money was being spent, and I had no say so in it,” Stachel said. “When we first held this meeting in January, it was a special meeting with the three of us and we were looking to put some money toward the appeal for the DEP permit for Tri-County.

“Just prior to that, we were working on our budget, and our budget this year is actually not predictable like in years past because we’ve had people lose jobs, get less pay or move, so we’re not sure what kind of revenues we’ll have in 2021.”

Jane Cleary, a CEASRA member and Pine Township resident, said she found budget numbers for the township equaling more than $3 million, which dwarfs the $10,000 cap Stachel proposed.

“It seems with over $3 million in the budget, you can go a little over $10,000,” Cleary said in the meeting.

Stachel also said he had a strictly professional relationship with Vogel, and added any accusations that Vogel paid him to move to Pine Township were “absurd.”

“We were never friends. We never socialized; we never talked except in public meetings, even if we did that,” Stachel said.

But residents of Pine were still critical of Stachel’s communications with Liberty and said during the meeting that Stachel should recuse himself from any future dealings regarding the landfill.

Pritchard, who is also president of CEASRA, said the landfill would be within a few miles of several recreational and commercial areas, such as the Grove City Premium Outlets and Grove City Airport, and a site for fracking waste.

Despite approval from the DEP, Pritchard said he is against the landfill installation.

“I do not want the landfill; it’s not appropriate,” Pritchard said Tuesday. “My objective is that all the money necessary to fight this is made available.”

During the meeting, Stachel said he toured the Tri-County Industries Seneca landfill.

“I wanted to see firsthand how this landfill was operating,” he said. “I asked a thousand questions while I was there, and the answers were very clear, very science-based.

“The reason why I encourage members of CEASRA to visit the landfill is because so many of your arguments are addressed.”

On Tuesday, Pritchard said the Pine supervisors won’t take any action against Stachel for his private email to Liberty, but warned against such future moves.

“This was pretty minor, it was a one-time occurrence,” Pritchard said. “If this was a regular pattern, I would be more concerned.”