A Moon supervisor broke ranks with his Democratic colleagues this week and voted to fire a controversial engineering firm -- only 10 months after he voted to hire them.

Jim Vitale, the swing vote on a five-member board dominated by Democrats, said no outside pressure came to bear on his decision to side Wednesday night with the Republican minority.

Instead, he said yesterday, his vote to oust Remington, Vernick & Beach was a matter of conscience.

"No real pressure," Mr. Vitale said. "This is my thought: I want to do the right thing. I want to do what's proper. And I know it was an unpopular thing to some people, but my conscience says I did the right thing."

Moon's Democratic majority voted in January to cut the township's longtime ties with Lennon Smith Souleret Engineering Inc. of Coraopolis.

The replacement was Remington, Vernick & Beach, a subsidiary of a New Jersey firm that seemingly came out of nowhere to make a push into southwestern Pennsylvania.

Robinson, also run by a Democratic majority, made the same switch in February, after using Lennon Smith Souleret for 16 years. Kennedy also hired Remington, Vernick & Beach after getting rid of HRG.

To entice the Moon supervisors, Remington, Vernick & Beach waived a retainer fee and offered lower rates.

Over the year, friction developed between the new engineering firm and top township officials who questioned inspection fees.

Four administrators -- the manager, assistant manager, planning director and parks and recreation director -- gave notice of their resignations in the last two months.

Mr. Vitale said he was put off by two issues: problems the engineering firm had working with Moon's staff and concerns over billing.

"Those two groups had to work together and for whatever reason they decided they didn't like each other," Mr. Vitale said.

Mr. Vitale's vote in January was cast, he said, with the hope that the new firm would save the township money. He soon realized the transition was not running smoothly.

"We thought that they would work for us," Mr. Vitale said. By spring, "There were some personality issues between the staff and the engineers. Usually that's the beginning. It just seemed to escalate from there."

Michael Meyer, director of Remington, Vernick & Beach's Pittsburgh office, said his firm spoke with Moon's supervisors individually over the past three weeks before learning that a vote was on the agenda Wednesday morning.

Mr. Meyer would not disclose what the firm was discussing with the supervisors.

"We were obviously disappointed," Mr. Meyer said yesterday. "We felt that we were protecting the best interests of the township, and we felt we had done some very good work."

Before the supervisors voted, Mr. Meyer read a statement defending his firm's integrity and claiming that its bids on two capital projects came in nearly $24,000 under Lennon Smith Souleret.

Mr. Meyer said his firm's inspection fees were not problematic and cited one project as an example.

"I have not received any written or verbal comments from staff stating that the inspection should not have taken place. The costs of the inspections are being paid by the developer, not Moon Township. The reason for the inspection is to protect the interest of the residents of Moon Township," according to a written copy of his remarks.

Mr. Meyer made a veiled reference to Lennon Smith Souleret, saying that his firm does not represent private developers and thus avoids conflicts of interest.

"Therefore, Moon Township never has to worry about conflicts of interest, where we represent or are trying to represent developers in other municipalities while inspecting or reviewing their work in Moon, which has been the case in the past," Mr. Meyer said.

Lennon Smith Souleret issued a statement last evening defending its work, calling Mr. Meyer's claims "scandalous."

Moon hired Michael Baker Inc. as its engineer until the end of the year. Mr. Vitale said it was possible the township would look into hiring an in-house engineer for the future.

He also said he would like an "open" dialogue with outgoing Manager Greg Smith to see if he would reconsider his decision to leave.

Democratic supervisor Frank Sinatra called the vote to dismiss Remington "very unprofessional." He also called it an "atrocity" to hire an interim engineering firm without proper vetting. Despite that, Mr. Sinatra said, it's time to get past the enmity and work for the good of the township.

While the supervisors dealt with one township controversy, Moon police wrapped up another.

Last month Mr. Sinatra received an e-mail message that could have been construed as threatening.

Police informed the board Wednesday that the sender could not be identified so the investigation is on hold unless there is a new threat.