MOUNT OLIVER BOROUGH, Pa. — Council members voted 5-1 during an emergency public meeting Wednesday night to terminate a Mount Oliver Borough employee who overdosed while on the job earlier this month.
Officials said Corey McGough had been on administrative leave since he overdosed in a public works truck and was revived.
Channel 11’s Marlisa Goldsmith learned McGough is the husband of the Mount Oliver Borough council president, who did not attend Wednesday’s meeting.
As soon as the emergency meeting began at 7 p.m. at the borough building, it was adjourned and council members went into executive session.
The public was allowed back into the meeting 45 minutes later. A council member made a motion to terminate McGough, which was approved in a 5-1 vote.
“There’s a serious, serious problem, and the sad part about it is it took the gentleman overdosing for the community and the borough to realize this is an epidemic. This is bad,” Mount Oliver Borough resident Alexis Little said.
When asked if there is a drug epidemic in the borough, Nick Viglione, the council’s vice president, said, “(It’s) no worse than any place else.”
Frank Bernardini, former council president, was on the council when McGough was hired. He told Channel 11 News that McGough is a good person, but that he betrayed the trust the borough had in him.
“There’s no place for that in any workplace. He could have endangered himself, another employee, and God forbid, (the public) out on the street here,” Bernardini said.