A complaint representatives of The Community Mission filed against the city of Pottsville in April will be the topic of a “fact-finding conference” to be presided over by a representative of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission on June 1, according to a letter the PHRC recently sent to the city.
In April, David J. Petravich, city building code officer, condemned 2-4 N. Centre St., a downtown building occupied by The Community Mission, stating it was “unfit for human occupancy.”
In response, the owners of the building, Robert J. “Pastor Bob” Alonge and his wife, Renata L., who were residing there, filed a complaint with the PHRC, a civil rights agency, alleging discrimination.
Alonge refused to provide a copy of the complaint to the newspaper when contacted Tuesday and refused to comment.
City officials also would not provide a copy of the complaint.
“We cannot provide that information at this time since it’s an ongoing investigation,” Merideth Hannon, secretary to Mayor James T. Muldowney, said Tuesday.
Petravich said the same thing Tuesday.
The city will be represented at the fact-finding conference by Christopher P. Gerber, an attorney with Siana, Bellwoar & McAndrew LLP, Chester Springs, Chester County, according to Hannon.
Gerber could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday.
“In accordance with the statutory mandate (PHR Act Section 9) for a prompt investigation of all complaints of discrimination, the commission has scheduled a fact-finding conference on this complaint,” John Means, a PHRC human relations representative, said in a recent letter to the city.
The fact-finding conference is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. June 1 at the PHRC Regional Office, 333 Market St., 8th Floor, Harrisburg, according to the letter.
“A fact-finding conference is a meeting (face to face) at which the two parties of the complaint present evidence and documents about the issues raised in the charge. A commission representative, called a human relations representative, will preside over and conduct the conference. The purpose and goal of the conference is to achieve either an early settlement or a prompt investigation of the complaint,” Means said in the letter.
Means is the human relations representative assigned to the case, according to the letter.
Means could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday.
The Community Mission has offices at 254 N. Mill St., Saint Clair. Earlier this year, it opened a pre-K to grade 12 school for “accelerated Christian education” — The Shepherd’s Fold Christian Academy and Bible Institute — at 2880 Pottsville-Minersville Highway, Suite 110, which is part of a strip mall, Miners Plaza.
On Jan. 29, Alonge and his wife bought the property at 2-4 N. Centre St. from Mike Ghannoum, Pottsville, for $155,000, according to the online Schuylkill Parcel Locator.
They have been advertising The Community Mission’s services with fliers in the front windows, but the mission did not have an office open there.
“We bought the property as a single family home, that has a commercial property on the first floor, that we will eventually use as such. As for now, we are living as a family that we are. We are not a program — just a family — large as it is and complexly made up. Our other sites serve our other ministries,” Robert Alonge said April 15.
Petravich said he learned there were “up to six people” living in the property, and that prompted his investigation.
He said he discovered:
• Violations of the 2009 International Property Maintenance Code, in particular sections 108.1.3, 503.2, 704.1 and 704.1.1.
• Violations of the City of Pottsville Zoning Ordinance.