[LNP | LancasterOnline] Former Columbia manager pleads guilty to Sunshine Act violation

Former Columbia Borough Manager Mark Stivers 

[Columbia Spy file photo]

Columbia Borough's former manager violated Pennsylvania's open meetings law this spring, the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office said, on the heels of a similar Sunshine Act complaint against the borough.

Mark Stivers paid a $100 fine after pleading guilty June 27 to violating the state Sunshine Act when he failed to post in advance an agenda for the borough's May 7 council meeting.

The Sunshine Act, the state's transparency and open meetings law, is meant to ensure people have full access to public meetings. The law requires meeting agendas to be posted at least 24 hours in advance to give residents time to prepare.

"In the end, the agenda for the workshop was not posted. It was my fault. I'm not going to fight it," said Stivers, who resigned his manager post July 3 for unrelated reasons.

The DA's office investigated the complaint after former borough council member Sharon Lintner raised concerns about an open meetings violation at the borough's May 7 council meeting. At that meeting, Stivers apologized for not posting the meeting agenda ahead of time, attributing the mistake to a clerical error.

"The actor was notified the day of the borough council meeting that the agenda had not been posted but did not cancel the agency meeting. Rather, the actor proceeded with the meeting and later acknowledged that the required notice had not been properly posted," district attorney spokesman Sean McBryan said.

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