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South Renovo councilman gets probation in theft of water funds

Council asks AG to have him removed from office

LOCK HAVEN — A South Renovo councilman charged with stealing $12,062 from the borough’s water fund has refused to resign from borough council, forcing council to appeal to the state attorney general to have him removed, according to South Renovo Mayor Robert Cozzi.

James B. Palmer Jr., 56, former water bill collector for the borough, entered a “no-contest” plea and was sentenced recently in Clinton County Court.

He has been ordered to pay back $12,062 the court said he took from the South Renovo Water Committee and was placed on three years’ probation.

The defendant was also ordered to pay the cost of prosecution.

State police said Palmer failed to deposit water bill money paid to him by citizens of South Renovo between January 2013 and September 2013.

Palmer was charged with theft by failure to make required disposition of funds. That charge was dismissed upon entry of his plea.

He was also charged with theft by deception for not paying his own water bill for $78 and marking it as being paid on his computer.

Meanwhile, South Renovo Mayor Robert Cozzi said council is trying to get Palmer removed from council because he has refused to resign. His term expires at the end of this year.

“I’ve asked him to resign five or six times at a public meeting, but he refuses to do so,” Cozzi said. “At our last meeting I asked him again. I said… do we have to hire an to attorney to write a letter … which will cost $350… to get you off council. Would you please resign your position to save South Renovo borough the money we will have to pay? He told me to ‘do what you have to do and I’ll do what I have to do.'”

“We hired an attorney last month and our lawyer mailed letters to the state Attorney General and the Clinton County District Attorney asking to have Mr. Palmer removed from council. We’re waiting for a response,” Cozzi said.

The Express attempted to contact Palmer but could not find a phone number. Palmer’s attorney said his client’s no contest plea means he has not admitted to any wrongdoing, but he also does not dispute the charge. As for the issue involving council, Rosamilia said he had not talked to his client about it.

The mayor explained that Palmer’s wife, Margaret, collected borough water bills for 11 years and her husband helped her.

“Two years ago she resigned. He was on council and he said he would continue to do the job. So council said okay,” Cozzi said.

Cozzi said South Renovo does not have a water authority, but rather a water committee that is made up of council members. Council oversees the committee, he said.

The mayor said he and two council members became suspicious in early 2013 that something was going on because it didn’t seem there was much money in the water fund.

“We asked him (Palmer) why we didn’t have more money in the water fund. He said he had it at his house. We started looking through his computer. We found people still owed that we knew had paid and others were marked paid and we knew they hadn’t paid. We were also getting calls that the water bills were screwed up. So we hired an accountant to do a forensic audit … and that’s how we found out that he was taking money and state police filed charges,” Cozzi said.

The investigation showed that “at no time had Palmer ever put cash into the bank,” Cozzi alleged, saying the investigation revealed that Palmer did deposit checks, but not cash given to him as payment for water services.

After Palmer resigned from collecting the water bills, council hired a firm from Bloomsburg to do its water bill collections.

“In the first year we gained $22,000 in our water fund,” Cozzi said.

Even though Palmer is still a councilman, the mayor said he doesn’t often attend meetings.

“If he thinks we’re going to bring something up about him, he’ll come. But he just sits there. He doesn’t participate. He is chairman of the EMT committee and the fire committee,” Cozzi said. “We think he’s trying to get us to do something so he can file a suit against us.”

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