Limerick Supervisors Decline To Wear Masks During Board Meeting

LIMERICK, PA — Several Limerick Township supervisors declined to wear masks during a recent public meeting of the board, according to one of the supervisors, Patrick Morroney.

Morroney, the lone Democrat on the board, said the board's other four members, all Republicans, were in direct defiance of an order from Gov. Wolf to wear masks or coverings during the May 12 meeting. He said there is a sign reminding visitors to the township building to do so.

"Why then, did my four fellow supervisors choose not to wear a mask during tonight’s township supervisor’s meeting? As we all know by now, wearing a mask protects your fellow citizens from you, in the event you are infected," Morroney wrote in a Facebook post. "I chose to wear a mask during tonight’s public meeting, and it wasn’t a difficult choice! I wore a mask because I respect my fellow supervisors, the township employees and members of the public who were present, and because I am concerned for their health and safety."

Supervisor Kara Schuler said that Morroney was allowing politics to get in the way of the board's work.

"Mr. Moroney's antagonistic trait continuously prevents the Board from moving forward and getting work done," she said. "He always has us on the defense. I respectfully have no comment and I have no interest in furthering this argument with him."

Chair Thomas Neafcy agreed with Schuler.

"Mr. Morroney has been a negative presence on this board almost from the beginning," he told Patch Monday. "The board has tried to mentor him since his election but he continues to be a disruption as we work to maintain high levels of service for the community."

Morroney added that all of the other township employees present for the meeting were wearing masks.

"As elected officials, we are supposed to lead by example," he wrote.

According to a report in the Pottstown Mercury, which first reported this case, Morroney said that Neafcy and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale agreed to "not enforce" the closure of non-essential businesses.

Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh has repeatedly stated that enforcement of these closures will come, if at all, from the state level, as it is the state who has issued the closure orders.