MACUNGIE, Pa. – Lawsuits continue to pile up for one Lehigh County borough.

Macungie is now being sued by four of its employees, including the former Borough Manager, who is asking for $150 million after he said his civil rights were violated.

Monday night’s meeting was the first without former Vice President Ron Karboski as a member of Macungie Borough Council. He submitted his resignation, saying a new job interfered with his council duties. Council now has four candidates it’s considering to fill his place.

This all comes as the Borough faces three separate lawsuits from its own current and former employees. The first suit was brought in April by Mayor Robert Sell, alleging Borough Council violated Pennsylvania law by taking oversight power over the police department away from him.

The second and third suits were filed in federal court in May by Sgt. Travis Kocher and Cpl. Michael Mullen of the Macungie Police Department, and then former Borough Manager John Brown. Both suits allege retaliation by Borough Council for doing their jobs, and a violation of their free speech rights.

“It’s a civil rights violation lawsuit, and we stand by everything that’s in that lawsuit,” said Mullen, when we spoke with him at the May 18th Borough Council meeting.

He claims the community is behind them.

“The public has been very supportive of our police department. You would come to the meetings, there would be three people here. Now there’s 40 or 50 people here. So it says something about the people in the Borough. Very encouraging,” said Mullen.

The most recent lawsuit from John Brown argues he was wrongfully terminated, and claims Borough Council was trying to illegally access Borough bank accounts and the payroll system. Brown is requesting damages of $150 million, but Mullen said for him, it’s not about the money.

“What we want to see from this lawsuit are two things: the truth to come out, and accountability for the people responsible. That’s what we’re looking for,” said Mullen.

Brown, Mullen, and Kocher are all represented by the same attorney, John Harrison, Esq. We reached out to his law firm, Broughal & Devito, LLP on Monday, but he did not return our request for comment. Sell is represented by David Deratzian, Esq. with the law firm Hahalis & Kounoupis, PC.