A Wild West Shootout in Harrisburg, Pa.

Harrisburg, Pa., Controller and mayoral candidate Dan Miller said he would appeal a judge’s decision that would force him to sign an agreement that allows the distressed city’s sale of Wild West artifact collections to proceed, the Patriot-News reported.

Miller has opposed Mayor Linda Thompson’s agreement with New York auction house Guernsey’s to sell the collection, which former Mayor Stephen Reed accumulated hoping to start a Wild West Museum. That museum never materialized.

According to Miller, he cannot legally sign the agreement without a sales expense included in the budget. Judge Bernard Coates Jr. of the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas in November ruled in favor of Thompson. Coates on Dec. 18 would not stay the ruling to allow Miller a time to file an appeal.

In a letter Tuesday to Miller’s lawyer, Benjamin Dunlap, city solicitor Jason Hess “demands that Mr. Miller sign the contract. … Mr. Miller’s defiant insistence on procedural prerequisites that are clearly absent from the city’s charter and administrative code have already substantially delayed the city’s receipt of much-needed revenues.”

Thompson has placed two large cardboard copies of Coates’ rulings inside the City Hall atrium.

Harrisburg expects to realize $3 million to $6 million from the auction and the sale is included in the capital city’s recovery plan, which state-appointed receiver William Lynch is overseeing.

The City Council “approved the sale, but they never approved the expense of the sale. I would be glad to approve it. All [Thompson] has to do is go to the City Council for their approval,” Miller told the Patriot-News.     

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