Chester Township auditor penalized over financial statements

CHESTER TOWNSHIP – Former township auditor Dorothy Green has been ordered to pay $750 by the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission for failure to file statements of financial interest for the years 2016 through 2019.
Green could not be reached for comment Friday and it was unclear exactly how long she had held the position. A message left for township Manager Debra Zimmerman was not returned.
Green was elected as a Republican to a six-year term in 2013 with no opposition. She did not run again in 2019, when Democrat Julianne McDonald took the seat over Republican Tonya Haman.
An order issued by the Ethics Commission Friday indicates Green was served notice of Ethics Act violations in February and October 2020, but did not respond or file accurate financial interest forms within a window that would allow her to avoid a civil penalty.
The order notes that the maximum penalty for each violation is $250. Finding no mitigating circumstances to reduce that figure, the commission levied one $250 penalty for each of the calendar years missing a financial interest form, for a total $750.
Green was ordered to pay the civil penalties by Oct. 17 and to file financial interest forms for 2016, 2017 and 2018. Failure to comply will result in “the initiation of an appropriate enforcement action,” the order warns.