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I thought I might be the first to use the term, “Computergate,” but apparently it was used in 2014 when an ex-Representative in Pennsylvania was convicted in a scandal involving computers.

Brett O. Feese once represented Lycoming County, headed the House Republican Campaign Committee, and served as the chief legal counsel for House Republicans. He was ultimately convicted of numerous charges that included theft, obstruction of the administration of law, and conspiracy.

If you are wondering how we are progressing with our own Computergate problem, here’s some things I can tell you:

This past Wednesday, Greg L. Baxter, Operations Manager for eZMicro Solutions, a large and well established Internet Technology company based in Whitehall, PA, was brought in to give us a free 2-hour evaluation of our computer system.

Mr. Baxter confirmed that the “new” computers, as I previously reported to Council, were not new. He was able to further find that one of them was about two months from being out of warranty when we received them – even with a one year extended warranty that was placed on it by an unknown party before they were delivered to the Borough.

Mr. Baxter was also unable to break through the password protection on the old computer in the back office, though he did report that it is also a mirrored hard drive server with hard drives of 500GB each. I thought it was kind of him not to openly laugh at the equipment we were sold for the price we paid.

Also on Wednesday, a new IT person we have been bringing in on occasion to fix computer problems that he is able to address, made contact with former IT person involved in the removal of that third computer from Borough Hall, hoping this person would voluntarily provide the password.

Our IT man was told by the former IT person that he had placed a password on the new computers, as he was ordered to do. He used a password that he uses for all his computer work, but that he was uncomfortable providing that password over the private phone of our new IT person. He asked our new IT person to contact him the next day using the phone from Borough Hall. At that time he would provide assistance.

The following day came and went without assistance. The former IT person told our new IT person that he was taking school exams that morning and would call him back. He never did.

Further efforts to reach him into Friday night resulted in unreturned messages left by our new IT person.

Pennsylvania State Police recovered the last missing computer tower and it was retrieved from them on Friday. Upon my own inspection when it arrived back at Borough hall, I found that it too, is password protected.

Currently, we are in possession of two large paperweights that are useless to us in conducting business.

eZMicro Systems will be presenting its’ complete findings on our existing system at the Council Meeting on February 8th, as an introduction of their company seeking to contract with us for IT services they can provide. They will also tell us what the cost will be for that service including the replacement of a new server unit needed in the office.

I got the distinct feeling that it will be expensive. An expense that would be lessened, I was told by Mr. Baxter from eZMicro, if we could gain access to that mirrored computer in the back office. As he put it to me, “It would be a game changer.”

I’ve looked into the law that was part of the Brett O. Feese prosecution, mentioned at the beginning of this post. Apparently anyone who hinders the function of a government agency – and The Borough of West Easton is such an agency – can be prosecuted for obstructing the administration of law. Preventing the use of our computers, by withholding a password, more than qualifies.

I’ll bet this former IT person will provide more than password information, should he be prosecuted and realizes that possible jail time could be the result of remaining silent.

UPDATE: NorCo DA John Morganelli has chosen not to prosecute Kelly Gross and Tom Nodoline for their unlawful conduct. He did not state that he found no evidence of laws being broken, only that he has chosen to implement his ability to use, “Prosecutorial Discretion” in not seeking to bring criminal charges against Gross and Tom Nodoline.