Express, The

Board meetings of the Southern Alleghenies (PA) Planning & Development Commission tended to be straightforward. No one had spoken during the public comment period in years. But in January 2022, the calm was broken when Richard Latker, president of a local civic group, read out a lengthy statement that lambasted officials for a lack of transparency. Latker said the regional commission was spending thousands of dollars to fight the release of basic information and accused officials of misleading state regulators.