Poorman Drops Legal Action against City

LOCK HAVEN—A city businessman has withdrawn a pending legal action against the City of Lock Haven.

Court records show that Steve Poorman last month filed a motion to “withdraw and discontinue” his appeal to state Commonwealth Court. Poorman had filed his challenge last August after Clinton County Court last summer threw out Poorman’s effort to force the city to enforce its ordinances on a variety of topics, from parking tickets to noise levels in the downtown.

Commonwealth Court in a posting on Dec. 27 noted the “discontinuance” of Poorman’s appeal.

Clinton County Judge Michael Salisbury last summer had dismissed the Poorman court foray. It had begun in May of 2017, Poorman seeking judicial redress to nine different areas of his concern about city operations from weed control to downtown speeding.

Judge Salisbury, in his 11-page opinion and order had determined that Poorman had no standing to bring his case into court, siding with the view of city solicitor Justin Houser. The city had argued that the Poorman allegations were legally insufficient and that Poorman lacked proper standing. The court did determine that Poorman’s action against the city was not “vexatious” and therefore dismissed a city request to hold Poorman responsible for city legal fees in defending the suit.

Judge Salisbury’s ruling went through Poorman’s nine complaints one by one and sustained the city’s preliminary objections in each instance. Poorman had filed a litany of grievances against city council, then-city manager Richard Marcinkevage, the city codes office and city police department. He had asked the court to tell the city to:

1) Use mailing, element-protected envelopes for parking tickets or tie tickets to wiper blades or mirrors.
2) Institute a certified mail notification if any vehicle fine amount is greater than $5 and “cease booting vehicles” for reasons pertaining to parking tickets.
3) Erect street signs where required.
4) Enforce the city weed ordinance.
5) Issue citations for abandoned vehicles.
6) Enforce health and code regulations relative to the Fallon Hotel on E. Water Street and order a second engineering study regarding its safety.
7) Produce a more understandable accounting format.
8) Enforce state sound levels and vehicular noise limits.
9) Enforce speed limits, especially those areas with high pedestrian traffic.

Poorman had been seeking a writ of mandamus to force the city to remedy his allegations but Judge Salisbury wrote that such writs “will not be issued to interfere with a public official’s exercise of discretion.”