A request for a 9-year-old incident report has led to allegations that Wilkins officials suppressed public information and threatened the police chief in order to keep that information under wraps.

Wilkins resident John Frank, who is engaged in a lawsuit against the township over sewage backup in his basement, said he went to the municipal building March 26 to retrieve copies of minutes from a commissioners meeting.

He said he was told he could not take the minutes because they could be released only by township Manager Rebecca Bradley, who was out of the office.

Immediately afterward, Mr. Frank said he went to the police department to pick up an incident report from May 18, 1999, regarding a call he had made about a loose sewer lid near his home.

"My first contact was with the secretary," he said. "She was very helpful. It went downhill from there."

Mr. Frank said the secretary received a call while he was there, telling her not to release the record to him. He said Police Chief Keith Guthrie took the call and was told not to release the record, despite his assertions that there was no reason to withhold it.

Chief Guthrie said the township's assistant manager, Paul Vargo, made the call to withhold the document and told him if the chief released it, he would be "subject to disciplinary action."

Mr. Vargo declined to comment on the matter.

Chief Guthrie said this was the first time he was prohibited from releasing a report, and its contents were unrelated to any ongoing investigations.

"Our basic thing is, if you come into our department and pay for it -- as long as it's something we can give you -- we give it to you," he said.

"If his neighbor would have come up and said I want [the report], we would have given it to him."

Ms. Bradley said attorneys defending the township in Mr. Frank's suit advised municipal officials to review any records given to him or his attorney to ensure they are public before their release.

Township Solicitor Gary Matta said he reviewed the report and faxed it to Mr. Frank's lawyer, John Linkosky, last Thursday.

"You're permitted under the public records act to have five days to produce a record," Mr. Matta said. "[Mr. Frank] walked in and requested a record and he got it within that time."

Ms. Bradley said: "We're still in compliance with the open records law, state law and township ordinances."

Mr. Linkosky, however, said the report and the commission minutes were requested by him during the discovery portion of Mr. Frank's lawsuit in October, and he was told by the township that, "the defendant has no record of each time township employees visited the plaintiff's home in the last 18 years."

He also said the township claimed engineers and public works reports are not public records, even though meeting minutes indicate they are available for inspection at the township office. Ms. Bradley denies the township has withheld any public information.

Mr. Linkosky said that outside of Mr. Matta's cooperation, the township's actions were, in his opinion, "not legal under any circumstances."

"It's reprehensible that a township would refuse public records on the basis that somebody might use those public records in a lawsuit against them, particularly when the township has reported repeatedly that the records don't exist," he said.

Commissioner Sharyn Fialla, who made the initial call to Mr. Matta encouraging him to fax the report to Mr. Linkosky, said the threat of disciplinary action against Chief Guthrie was one of the most disturbing parts of the incident. She said those actions could lend credence to the chief's own pending civil rights suit against the township.

"There is a recurring theme in Wilkins Township of violation of civil rights, illegal orders given to employees, employees being threatened with adverse actions if they don't obey orders given," she said.

Commissioner Michael Szoko said the entire situation could have been handled differently if Chief Guthrie knew documents related to Mr. Frank's case needed approval before release.

"The chief was left out of the information loop, which undermines him, the police force and public safety in the township," Mr. Szoko said.

Chief Guthrie, however, said he disagrees with the decision to delay release of public documents just because Mr. Frank has a lawsuit against the township.

"It's against policy. We give [public records] out if they come in to get them. We've got to treat everybody the same."