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A West Easton resident was recently denied two Right To Know (RTK) requests by our Agency Open Records Officer (AORO), Joan Heebner, and following a lost appeal of the denials, the borough was threatened with litigation in the courts. by Tricia Jenn

Constable, and self-proclaimed “Independent Journalist,” Tricia Mezzacappa, known for submitting an unprecedented amount of RTK Requests to the borough in 2019, has already submitted 14 RTK Request forms to West Easton in 2020 (with some having multiple items listed within the forms).

An additional RTK Request has been submitted by her cohort from Monroeville, John G. Yakim. Mr. Yakim, who lives near Pittsburgh, is seeking year end reports from the Safety First Volunteer Fire Company for 2018 and 2019, while Mezzacappa is requesting test results on their hoses, pumps, and ladders on fire engines, for “2018 to 2019.”

Of the two denied Mezzacappa requests, one involved “Vexatious Requester” emails, but the more important one sought financial information on a West Easton resident, including tax information, any late payments, and shut-off notices. They were likely destined for Facebook.

Upon receiving the initial denial from our AORO, Tricia Mezzacappa, as is often the case, filed an appeal to the PA Office of Open Records (OOR).

The OOR upheld the denials, so Mezzacappa asked the OOR for a review of the decisions to deny.

Again, new eyes at the OOR upheld the previous determinations to deny.

Mezzacappa then threatened to go to court and have a judge decide if the denials should be reversed.

The decision by the OOR protects every private citizen from falling victim to any person who seeks to humiliate and embarrass others on social media, or other means.

To protect the OOR decisions and residents, Council voted unanimously to authorize our Solicitor defend against any court action that seeks to overturn decisions made in West Easton’s favor, following an OOR appeal.

Both denials are expected to survive a challenge to the OOR decision, should another court action be undertaken by Mezzacappa.

UPDATE: Mezzacappa performed an end-run to circumvent the upheld West Easton denial of the personal information on the resident – at least partially. She submitted a RTK Request to the Easton Suburban Water Authority. Apparently unaware of the recent decision by the OOR, the ESWA provided late payment and shut-off notice information on all resident addresses since 2016. Mezzacappa has, indeed, posted the documents she received on Facebook.