Which is the scarier stuff?

Thirteen days after voting to "censure" fellow board member Beverly Beal, in a flap over a packet allegedly left behind in a restaurant, the other four board members of the Fayette County Housing Authority took an interesting action.

Harry Fike, Robert Onesko, Mary Wertz and Harry "Bo" Joseph yesterday approved a settlement agreement with former housing authority finance director Steve Middleton, who was fired in April 2011.

And, they agreed to keep the terms of this agreement secret, according to the HeraldStandard.com story, "Housing authority settles lawsuit," June 27.

Here's a quote from that story, from housing authority executive director Tom Harkless, that should have everyone falling out of their seats: "Part of the agreement is to keep everything confidential. Both sides agreed that there would be no further discussion."

There's just one small problem for Harkless and those four board members: The law doesn't allow such things. (Quick, somebody call Cohen and Grigsby! We need to find an investigator, pronto!)

Those same four board members centered their motion to censure Beal around this theme: "Her conduct has been improper and unprofessional and her actions are detrimental to the authority and the residents it serves. She has violated our trust and violated her fudiciary responsibility by improperly discussing ongoing litigation on behalf of a litigant opposing the authority, as well as discussion an ongoing federal case." ("FCHA censures member over docuements," HeraldStandard.com, June 15).

Improper and unprofessional? Here's what Pennsylvania Newspaper Association attorney Melissa Melewsky had to say about the Middleton agreement, according to HeraldStandard.com: "Pennsylvania law is clear. Settlement agreements involving a public agency are public and confidentiality clauses in such settlements are not legally enforceable."

Violated trust and fudiciary responsbility? Again, from Melewsky: "It is also worth noting that courts have penalized government agencies that deny access of settlement agreements." (Can you say, "Fines"?)

The bigwigs at the Fayette County Housing Authority should know better. They can't keep this agreement secret, so why even try? But your right to know the terms will depend on someone: 1. Asking for a copy; and 2. Taking the matter to court, if turned down.

Fike previously said that some of the stuff in the packet allegedly left behind by Beal was "scary."

We don't know about you, but an old newspaper photo of Harkless working at K-Mart as a teen-ager is a lot less scary than a public agency that, in 2012, is trying to keep secrets.