{"id":109311,"date":"2026-02-09T19:14:53","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/109311\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T19:14:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T19:14:53","slug":"kilkenny-versus-upper-darbys-home-rule-charter-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/109311\/","title":{"rendered":"Kilkenny versus Upper Darby\u2019s Home Rule Charter, Part Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second article in a two-part series. The first<\/a> appeared yesterday.<\/p>\n

Sean Kilkenny serves as solicitor for Upper Darby Township and for sundry other localities in the Philadelphia area. In that capacity, the 51-year-old Montgomery County Sheriff and retired Army lieutenant colonel boasts some glittering kudos<\/a> from legal journals, including State Local & Municipal Law\u2019s \u201cPennsylvania Super Lawyer\u201d distinction and Legal Intelligencer\u2019s \u201cLawyer on the Fast Track\u201d honor.<\/p>\n

The powerful Democrat and head of Kilkenny Law has also taken rebukes, many from disapproving politicians. One also came from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR) this April. The OOR settles disagreements between government agencies and residents trying to obtain documents from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the discussions in the February 6th email may be concerning because the Township Council is subject to the strictures of Sunshine Act, the OOR has no jurisdiction to consider allegations of Sunshine Act violations,\u201d wrote attorney Kelly Isenberg, an OOR senior appeals officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Seven days notice?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The email in question pertained to legislation to raise Upper Darby Township\u2019s fees and property taxes. Drexel Hill resident John DeMasi was concerned that Kilkenny and other Upper Darby officials were deliberating on the increases outside public view in violation of a state law<\/a> requiring transparent meetings. Council President Hafiz Tunis Jr. (D-7th District) asked councilpersons via email to \u201capprove\u201d advertising the ordinances in The Delco Times, giving readers seven days\u2019 notice of the proposals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Upper Darby\u2019s Home Rule Charter (HRC)<\/a> requires an ordinance vote to take place seven days after the law is advertised. But the Sunshine Act (i.e., the state\u2019s Open Meetings Law) doesn\u2019t allow lawmakers to vote outside of official meetings. Waiting until their in-person meeting the following day would have meant publishing the notice on February 8, giving the ad only six days in the public domain before the hearing and final vote on February 14.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Council did end up voting<\/a> on February 7 to advertise the tax and fee rises, but township staff had already sent The Delco Times the ad on February 6 for appearance on the 7th \u2014 before Council officially voted to run it!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kilkenny rationalized that move by noting six councilpersons responded to Tunis supporting the ordinances\u2019 consideration. But the solicitor said a public vote to advertise should occur \u201cin an abundance of caution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before the February 7 vote, Councilwoman Laura Wentz (I-At-Large) condemned the initial use of email to ask if councilpersons \u201capprove\u201d of advertising the revenue measures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s asking for a vote,\u201d she said. \u201cApproval is a vote; that\u2019s not a \u2018poll\u2019 [as Tunis called it]\u2026. You asked for a vote via email without a public hearing to introduce and advertise [tax and fee] ordinances that hadn\u2019t been seen by the public\u2026.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After DeMasi asked Upper Darby staff for records relevant to the issue, the township declined and he lost an appeal to OOR. But Isenberg\u2019s determination letter on behalf of the agency still speculated officials acting under Kilkenny\u2019s guidance \u201cmay\u201d have violated the Sunshine Act.<\/p>\n

And when Upper Darby lawmakers breach the Sunshine Act, they breach the HRC. The charter states<\/a> that \u201cCouncil shall provide\u2026 for the performance of all duties and obligations imposed on the Township by law.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Kilkenny\u2019s chief duties is ensuring Mayor Ed Brown (D) and council members follow the HRC, the township\u2019s governing document. As detailed in yesterday\u2019s report<\/a>, his performance on that score has been controversial since Brown\u2019s predecessor, Barbarann Keffer (D), appointed him in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reorganizing without notice<\/p>\n

A Keffer loyalist to the end of her administration in January 2024, Kilkenny frequently clashed with councilpersons who opposed her. Those conflicts crested when pro-Keffer members attempted to reorganize Council leadership a year and a half into the last two-year session. They booted Wentz from the vice presidency and fell one vote short of doing the same to former President Brian Burke, an ex-Democrat who ran unsuccessfully for mayor last year as a Republican.<\/p>\n

On July 12, 2023, Councilman Andrew Hayman (D-5th District) moved first to remove Wentz as vice president and, after her ouster, to replace her with Tunis. Burke immediately objected that leadership reorganizations take place in January and appear on the agenda for the public\u2019s benefit so interested individuals can comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not in our Home Rule Charter that you can do this,\u201d he said to Kilkenny associate Colleen Marsini who filled in for the solicitor that evening. \u201cIt is not happening. I don\u2019t know where Kilkenny Law believes this can happen. Reorganization meetings are advertised.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hayman countered that because replacing a council officer comes at no expense, it necessitated no advance notice. Marsini agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Council\u2019s internal business,\u201d she said. \u201cAs such, it does not have to be on the agenda, it\u2019s not subject to public comment, there\u2019s no violation of Sunshine Act.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marsini also cited an HRC provision permitting council to \u201corganize in any manner it deems useful\u2026 provided that such organization is not inconsistent with this Charter or law.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the narrow six-to-five vote ejecting Wentz from Council leadership, members agreed to table Tunis\u2019s election to the vice presidency to a subsequent date; he was eventually elected vice president in early August. At a raucous September 20 meeting<\/a>, pro-Keffer councilpersons tried and narrowly failed to remove Burke as Council president, with Kilkenny standing by the legal opinions Marsini offered two months earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we stated previously when the last reorganization happened, this is Council reorganization business; [it] does not require public comment and therefore it does not need to be on the agenda,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Yet that November, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court would say the opposite<\/a> about what the Sunshine Act requires. In Coleman v. Parkland, the court found that an agency cannot extemporaneously change its meeting agenda in any but three cases: emergencies; trivial or cost-free business that arose within 24 hours of the meeting; or issues raised by a taxpayer or resident for agency-staff review.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless the matter of new business meets one of the Three Exceptions, you may NOT add any item of new business to that meeting\u2019s agenda,\u201d the Erie-based Knox Law firm advised<\/a> in a web update in the wake of the ruling. (Capitals in the original.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

And, as noted earlier, Upper Darby\u2019s HRC explains that when Council violates state laws like the Sunshine Act, it violates the HRC itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Electing a president pro tempore<\/p>\n

As of this writing, Kilkenny has not responded to a request for comment on the above issues nor on another striking move the council majority made under his superintendence on July 24 of this year.<\/p>\n

That evening, township lawmakers elected<\/a> Danyelle Blackwell (D-4th District) as president pro tempore, the majority-party official who presides over the legislative body when its president can\u2019t attend session. The HRC\u2019s section on organizational meetings stipulates<\/a>, \u201cIn the absence of both the President and the Vice President, the Council shall appoint a President Pro Tem, who shall have all the powers of the President.\u201d<\/p>\n

And another section titled \u201cOrganization of Township Council<\/a>,\u201d states, \u201cIn the absence of both the President and Vice President, the members of Council shall elect, by majority vote of the members comprising the quorum then present, a chairman pro tem, who shall hold office during that [reorganizational] meeting of Council, unless such office shall be terminated by the entrance of the President or Vice President.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem? Neither President Tunis nor Vice President Hayman were absent on July 24.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wentz pointed out both sections to Kilkenny.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the president and vice president present in this Council meeting, this motion to elect a pro-tem president is illegal as per the Home Rule Charter,\u201d she said. \u201cThe only time you can appoint a pro-tem president is when they are not present. But because they\u2019re sitting here in this room, you cannot do that per the Home Rule Charter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Attendees could be heard applauding. The solicitor then spoke up to argue that the sections Wentz read pertain only to the reorganization meetings required to take place in January when session starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a different fact,\u201d he said. \u201cCouncil wants to go ahead and elect a president pro tem \u2014 they can decide not to elect a president pro tem if they want \u2014 but there\u2019s a motion on the floor to reorganize just for that specific post.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet no other section of HRC addresses the office of \u201cpresident pro tem.\u201d And Kilkenny\u2019s fellow lawyer, Councilwoman Meaghan Wagner (R-1st District), chimed in to share her misgivings about electing such an officer outside of a reorganization meeting for non-transitory purposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re talking about a temporary position that you\u2019re going to appoint someone to permanently,\u201d she said. \u201cThat makes no sense \u2014 to permanently put someone in a position that\u2019s temporary, it makes no sense.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

At-large Councilman Matt Silva, also expressed his bewilderment at his fellow Democrat\u2019s logic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a guy who works on a boat for a living, sometimes some of us can\u2019t be here,\u201d the port engineer explained. \u201cSo who\u2019s to say that the third mate that we\u2019re gonna put in this position is gonna be here on the day that you and Vice President Hayman are not here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wentz remonstrated again about an appointment she saw as \u201cblatantly\u201d flouting the HRC, but Blackwell\u2019s nomination cleared Council, with Wentz, Wagner, Silva and their Third District GOP colleague Brian Andruszko abstaining.<\/p>\n

A \u2018Teflon Don\u2019<\/p>\n

Kilkenny has himself questioned his denouncers on their fealty to Upper Darby\u2019s charter. In May 2022, he supplied an analysis<\/a> to Keffer at her request<\/a> suggesting that Wentz and Burke themselves contravened the HRC through several actions including \u201cattempting to direct the work of Administration staff\u201d and \u201cengaging in direct negotiations with Township union employees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Burke said his dialogue with municipal workers came about out of concern for them as constituents and his need to ascertain the facts about contracts for which he would have some responsibility as a legislator. Wentz also said she felt she and Burke were acting constructively to re-engage the township in negotiations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t attempt to negotiate the contract,\u201d she said. \u201cI was only trying to get them back to the table.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wentz said her view of Kilkenny\u2019s handling of HRC issues changed for the worse since his appointment as Upper Darby\u2019s legal counsel almost five years ago. She said she thought he generally adhered to the township code, sometimes cautioning the Keffer administration against taking legally dubious actions, but Wentz believed he changed course when the mayors who retained him demanded his unquestioning allegiance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the beginning, [Kilkenny\u2019s firm] did a good job,\u201d she said. \u201cBut as time went on\u2026, in my opinion\u2026, the concept of doing the right thing started going out the window.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Burke\u2019s estimation, Kilkenny\u2019s record on the HRC matches the attitude the lawyer displayed when DeMasi asked him if he thought \u201chis point of view is what has the force of law and regulation\u201d and Kilkenny replied, \u201cactually, it does\u2026\u201d per the charter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis relationship with the Home Rule Charter is the way anybody would want a relationship: \u2018I tell you what it does and I tell you what it doesn\u2019t do and I\u2019m never wrong,\u2019\u201d Burke told Broad + Liberty. \u201cThat\u2019s the best relationship in the world: \u2018I\u2019m never wrong\u2026.\u2019 He buffaloes every opinion to continue to shut people up and\u2026 nobody will go after him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Council president called Kilkenny a \u201cTeflon Don,\u201d the moniker often used to refer to<\/a> the late mafioso John Gotti after several court acquittals, \u201cbecause everybody\u2019s scared of not having his money or his connections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rich Blye, the former resident who Kilkenny barred from speaking at township meetings until Council reversed the solicitor, was even tougher on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSean Kilkenny likens himself to be a king,\u201d the local activist averred. \u201cSean Kilkenny sits at the head so that people can understand that he is the person that is in control and that he is in charge. And the fact that we have a Council President Tunis and Mayor Ed Brown and the rest of the council that goes along with what he\u2019s doing is showing that we are living in a totalitarian state in Upper Darby Township, soon to be a dictatorship with our free speech being restricted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kilkenny\u2019s critics now await a hearing from the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas about whether speech will be ultimately constrained by Upper Darby\u2019s new resolution limiting orations at public ordinance hearings. The township\u2019s new earned income tax, passed under the new limits, could also get struck down. DeMasi said he thinks such a defeat for the solicitor\u2019s HRC interpretations would be long overdue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been reprehensible in his unwillingness to actually learn and engage on the Home Rule Charter,\u201d DeMasi said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Broad + Liberty reached out to Kilkenny, Brown, and members of their Council faction for comment. None provided any.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bradley Vasoli is a writer and media strategist in Pennsylvania. You can follow him on X at @BVasoli<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the second article in a two-part series. The first appeared yesterday. Sean Kilkenny serves as solicitor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,2258,37786,52414,2260,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-109311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-delaware-county","tag-democrats","tag-home-rule","tag-open-records","tag-sean-kilkenny","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}