Delaying Facilities Manager Appointment Post-Election "Coincidence," Official Says

A sitting Bensalem Township Councilman and Bensalem Township School District employee is one of nine candidates in the running for the school district's facilities manager position.

But, whether John Mathieu is appointed to the position left open following former Facilities Manager Robert Moseley's arrest earlier this year in connection with a scandal that bilked the district of $1.5 million will be unknown until Nov. 6 - the day after the election.

Mathieu, who is up for re-election on the township council and works as the district's preventative maintenance coordinator, has been serving as the district's acting facilities manager, according to School Board President Ralph Douglass. 

He is one of 38 people who applied for the position and one of nine being actively considered for the job, according to Douglass. 

The board was expected to appoint someone to the position during its meeting on Wednesday. But, following an hour-long executive session, opted instead to table the decision and continue the meeting until Nov. 6.

Douglass said after the meeting that the continuation date was a "coincidence" and not political in nature. 

"We have a major meeting on the 30th," Douglass said. "We didn't want to interfere with that."

Douglass declined to say which other candidates were being considered for the position, only that more time was needed to choose the best person.

"We felt we needed some more time to deliberate," Douglass said. 

Board member Kevin McKay, one of two who voted no to table the decision, said he was "disappointed" that the board did not act on Wednesday.

"We owe it to the people of Bensalem to change the culture of this department in a timely manner, and after the rigor of the process we went through I find the timing very suspicious," McKay said. 

The meeting to take action on the facilities manager position is set for Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. at the Dorothy D. Call Administrative Center, 3000 Donallen Dr., in Bensalem.