HONESDALE, PA — According to documents obtained by The River Reporter, Bob Jennings, who was re-elected to the Honesdale Borough Council on November 7, has four times in the past year asked the council to pay for legal representation to determine whether Mayor Melody Robinson has the legal authority to halt a police investigation into a complaint. On none of the four occasions would any other member of the council support his motion.

Jennings wanted the Chief of Police Rick Southerton to investigate an incident that, according to logs from the Wayne County Communications Center, involved an ambulance being dispatched to the home of a Honesdale official in October of 2016 at about 3 a.m.

In a press release issued on October 23 of this year, Jennings said the ambulance call was one “reportedly involving drug use and potential overdose…”

On November 8, 2016, in his role as chairman of the Safety Committee, Jennings wrote to Southerton, formally asking him to investigate the ambulance call. Southerton confirmed that Jennings asked him to investigate the incident.

In other documents, Jennings alleges that Robinson orally told Southerton not to investigate the matter. In an email to Robinson on November 10, 2016, Jennings wrote, “If you have any instructions or questions concerning this matter, please email the information to me at once, as I will not discuss this with you on the phone.”

In a memo to the Honesdale Borough Council on January 16, 2017, Jennings wrote that he had asked Southerton if he would disregard the mayor’s orders and the answer from Southerton was, “No, because it is a criminal matter.”

Robinson, who on November 7 lost her race for a second term, gave a statement to The River Reporter which did not directly address whether she ordered Southerton not to investigate the incident. Her statement said, “As mayor, during my tenure any investigation that occurred within the Honesdale Borough would have been handled by the Honesdale Borough Police or the Pennsylvania State Police.”

It’s not clear whether, even if the ambulance call had been a response to an overdose, the incident could have been investigated by police. There are state laws in place that may prevent it. The laws are explained on the website of Attorneys Rehmeyer & Allatt: “As Pennsylvania Good Samaritan laws apply to someone overdosing, law enforcement is prevented from prosecuting the person who called for help or the person overdosing. Police cannot act on information developed solely in response to the 911 or emergency services call for help. In some situations, Good Samaritan laws do not apply to drug overdoses, and witnesses could still be prosecuted in the case of a death, or if there are quantities of drugs discovered that would ordinarily give rise to drug dealing charges.”

In any case, the relationship between Robinson and Jennings was clearly strained. In a letter to borough solicitor Richard Henry on November 16, 2016, Robinson wrote that she has made several attempts by email, phone and through Southerton to arrange an in-person meeting with Jennings to discuss the matter, but he has ignored them. She wrote, “I believe I’m being harassed at this point. Please advise.”

On May 19, 2017, Jennings wrote to Henry asking for a “declaratory judgment” about whether Robinson has the authority to block a police investigation.

Henry responded on June 4 that he can’t issue a determination unless the board approves it. But he added that “Borough code provides expansive powers for the mayor regarding the police department. I believe it is unquestionable.”

He also wrote, “The mayor and I have spoken about her involvement in actual investigations and police matters, and I am convinced that she recognizes that distinction and abides by it.”