Moosic officials are asking two things from a councilwoman accused of stealing more than $44,000 from borough coffers: restitution of the money and resignation from her position on council and the planning commission.
Jane Sterling, 66, of 596 Rocky Glen Road, was charged with theft after allegedly fraudulently adding more than 1,000 hours toward her sick time and then cashing them out when she retired as borough administrator at the end of 2023. She had served as borough administrator since 2007.
Moosic Mayor Robert Bennie, who took office in 2022, said he was shocked and saddened to learn of Sterling’s alleged theft.
Both he and his predecessors trusted Sterling absolutely and believed she was a valuable asset to borough government.
He said the money was stolen directly from the pockets of taxpayers, all of whom work hard for their money and many on a limited income.
He points out that, according to the criminal complaint, Sterling offered to pay the money back during an interview with the Lackawanna County district attorney’s office.
He’s holding her to that offer as a means of redressing the wrongs done.
“We are devastated to bring these allegations of abuse of power and position to light,” he wrote in an open letter to Moosic residents. “We understand that your trust was betrayed. Our trust was betrayed.”
“Together we welcome your input and support to rebuild from this moment.”
Breaching a trust
Bennie said the borough was working with its solicitor to draft a formal letter requesting Sterling’s resignation from council and the planning commission.
Sterling was elected to her position on council in 2023 and took office in January of 2024.
If the alleged charges are true, it means that Moosic residents voted Sterling into a position of trust even as she was stealing from them. And she knew it, Bennie said.
It’s not lost on him that, as a council member, Sterling receives a monthly stipend of $166.67 before taxes and a net check of $93.11.
It’s a small amount, but one that she doesn’t deserve, he said.
Although Sterling can’t be legally forced to step down over the charges, Bennie hopes she will step down in an effort to do the right thing.
Sterling is the council’s president pro tempore, which means that should the president and vice president be absent from a meeting, she would be called to preside over it. That, Bennie said, would be unacceptable.
‘Checks and balances’
Bennie said Sterling was able to steal the money from her fellow Moosic residents because of the great amount of trust placed in her without any type of oversight.
For example, she was able to write her own checks as head of payroll.
“Borough officials took immediate steps to ensure that checks and balances are in to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” Bennie said.
Those safeguards include:
• Hiring a professional payroll company in early 2024 to process payroll.
• Conducting an internal audit of accrued time off and engaging additional support from the borough’s auditor to review payroll of all retiring employees prior to their accrued time being released.
• Partnering with the Pennsylvania Economy League as a proactive step to review financial records and practices to develop a five-year financial strategy for the borough. PEL will be recommending appropriate internal controls.
• Updating all of the policies and procedures to professional standards and distributing them to all employees.
• Ensuring every payroll is signed off by two administrative staff members.
• Eliminating carryover of accrued time for administrative staff who are not bound by a collective bargaining agreement.
Moosic officials concluded the statement by saying, “Due to the severity of these allegations, we request that Jane Sterling resign from Moosic Borough Council and the Planning Commission immediately.”