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Resident alleges transparency failures and questions mayor's disclosures; council moves forward on contracts and planning matters
Summary
A public commenter alleged open-records denials and disputed the mayor’s statement-of-financial-interest filings; the chair rejected those claims as "fabricated outrage." The council then received planning recommendations, discussed economic-development programs and approved a contract authorization for Carbone Enterprises.
A New Castle resident used public comment to allege the city denied open‑records requests, improperly issued a subpoena and that the mayor’s financial‑disclosure filings were falsified; the council chair dismissed the remarks and the meeting proceeded to routine business, including a contract authorization.
Devin Brian Maresca said he had obtained a 2023 statement-of-financial-interest for ‘‘mayor Mark’’ from the county election office and alleged the document was backdated and that other filings (for 2024 and 2025) were withheld by city staff. He also alleged the mayor listed no income despite working for a school district and asserted the existence of a business entity (RCME Incorporated) tied to the mayor’s name. Maresca said he and another resident had pursued open-records requests and that one result had led to court action.
The Chair responded in the meeting record that Maresca’s remarks were ‘‘fabricated outrage’’ and described them as attention-seeking behavior on social media; no formal council motion or investigation into the claims was recorded at the meeting. The transcript does not show the council directing staff to open an inquiry into the allegations during this session.
After public comment, the meeting included updates from city staff on community events and economic-development work with Fort Lawrence and a possible CRIS (capital/CRIS-style opportunity designation) that could return incremental state tax revenue to the city if approved. The Chair reported a bridge construction timeline change, saying PennDOT had moved the opening to April 2027 and pledged an additional $500,000 to accelerate work.
On city business, the council received and filed the planning commission’s conditional-use recommendation for LEAP Auto Sales and Services LLC; public hearings on that application were scheduled for July 20. Later, the council moved to authorize designated officials to enter a contract with Carbone Enterprises/Carbone Industrial Services LLC; the motion was seconded and a roll-call vote was taken with affirmative responses recorded in the transcript and the motion announced as approved. The transcript does not record a contract dollar amount in the public verbal record.
Next steps: public hearings for the conditional-use application are set for July 20; staff were scheduled to inspect a neighborhood street after public comment; and the council recorded an authorization to proceed with the Carbone Enterprises contract per the city charter designations.
