On March 5, the Covington Twp. Board of Supervisors voted to take out a loan for $800,000 to fund a proposed pavilion on the grounds of the Moffat Estate. This was a repeat hearing following concerns over whether or not the original hearing, held on Feb. 16, gave residents enough of time to examine the proposed loan ordinance in accordance with the Second Class Township Code of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s (DCED) Local Government Unit Debt Act.
At the March 5 hearing, township resident Scott Van Fleet, who is currently running for a seat on the board of supervisors and who owns a picnic grove next-door to Board Chairman Thomas Yerke’s residence, explained his reasons for opposing the project.
“Looking through the feasibility study, out of 87 people who were questioned, only seven wanted a pavilion. Only four out of the 87 wanted a wedding or conference center,” Van Fleet said. “So far as the citizens of the township, I don’t believe the majority are for this and I think it’s going to be a burden, a long-time burden put on the township as far as maintaining, insurance, etc.”
In an April interview with The Villager, Yerke explained that he himself was not originally in favor of building a pavilion on the estate grounds.
“We did the feasibility study for two reasons— funding and to use the estate in the best way we could for the community,” Yerke said. “Many people came with ideas ranging from skateboard parks, pavilions, and restroom facilities. I particularly wanted to build an enclosed swimming pool. When it came down to it, though, it seemed that the most popular use, no matter how many people came to the meetings, was restroom facilities, playgrounds, the pavilion, and a picnic area.”
Yerke claims that Van Fleet’s opposition to the pavilion is not the first time that Van Fleet opposed one of his projects.
“The pavilion project is not the first incident that Mr. and Mrs. Van Fleet blamed me for; the first incident was a proposed pigeon shoot that was to be a 6-day event at the Moscow Sportsmen’s Club in 2006,” Yerke said.
According to Yerke, he received calls from township residents expressing concern that dead pigeons would land in their yards. Yerke then got an injunction to stop the shoot.
“At the time, Scott and I weren’t arguing or fighting,” Yerke said. “He came up alongside of me in my truck and told me that I had no right in stopping the shoot. I said, ‘Scott, if 100 people called and 99 didn’t want that pigeon shoot, I have to bend with the constituency.’ They didn’t want to have it, I didn’t want to have it. He said I was done politically for it.”
“Come to find out, Van Fleet was supposed to cater the event,” Yerke added. “I don’t even know if this is true; I have had several people come to me and tell me that was the case.”
Van Fleet, however, says that Yerke’s claims are unfounded.
“I had nothing to do with the pigeon shoot, this is another example of Mr. Yerke making up lies,” Van Fleet said. “I disagreed with how he handled the situation. When I saw him that day in the pickup truck, I asked him if it was illegal to have a pigeon shoot and he said it wasn’t. I told him he was putting his beliefs before the law and if he didn’t like the idea of the shoot, then the next year he should pass an ordinance forbidding them from taking place in the township.”
“As for possibly catering the event, again, my wife and I had nothing to do with the shoot,” Van Fleet said. “For Mr. Yerke to say this without documentation to back it up is getting old at this point.”
Yerke said that the pigeon shoot incident was the “beginning of the demise” of his friendship with Van Fleet and that Van Fleet’s current opposition to the pavilion project, as well as to Yerke himself, is more personal than anything else.
“All of these things that he is levying against me, he figures that because he is a charismatic guy and a smooth talker, he can get away with it, as does [Township Supervisor] Bill Willson,” Yerke said. “But the truth of the matter here is that they have black souls. They will do anything to get their point across and discredit anybody on the way.”
“All of this is unfortunate,” Yerke added. “As a community leader, an elected official, I do everything. I eat, drink, and sleep this township. This township is always on my mind.”
Van Fleet asserts that he is not out to discredit anyone.
“I am not looking to make money off of Covington Township,” he said. “I just want this township run properly. There is no self-interest at work here.”