State College Borough Council member R. Thomas Berner will be returning to his council seat after a four-and-a-half month trip to China -- and the deciding vote was his own.

Despite questions of a possible conflict of interest, Berner broke a 3-3 tie at last night's meeting, voting to excuse himself from all meetings during the trip. Berner will be excused from his council duties until July by a 4-3 vote -- with council members Tom Daubert, Ruth Lavin and Jerry Wettstone in opposition.

Berner, a 49 year-old University journalism professor, plans to leave for China Feb. 21 on a Fulbright fellowship and will return July 11. He will be teaching English writing skills to graduate students.

Council president Jean McManis motioned to excuse Berner for the 10 or more meetings he will miss while teaching in China.

The motion brought immediate opposition from Lavin, who questioned whether Berner thought his vote would give the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"I'm allowed to vote, so if I'm needed I will vote," Berner said in his last meeting before his scheduled departure.

The borough's home-rule charter states that a council member is subject to removal by a vote of the council if he or she misses three consecutive regular council meetings without being excused by the council.

Lavin also raised the isssue of precedent during her argument against the excused absence. She said if Berner is excused from council meetings, then future members will be able to be excused because of the precedent established. Lavin said council members should only be excused from meetings because of a death in the family or an illness, not for a trip.

Lavin noted that if a University student is elected to the council in the future and requests a leave during the summer, the council would be pressed to follow the precedent and excuse the absences.

"We're setting a very bad tone," Lavin said.

In addition to the precedent issue, Daubert expressed concern with the possibility of tie votes and the committee assignments left vacant by Berner.

"I think we need seven active council members essentially all the time," Daubert said.

Council member Felicia Lewis defended the excused absence and said the issue is not specifically addressed in the home-rule charter. She added the council must use its best judgment in excusing council members from meetings.

While Lavin said it was not an issue of her opposing Berner, she said she was unhappy with the council's decision.

"This is not against Tom Berner. This is against what's going on here," Lavin said.

Council members McManis and Lewis said previously that several residents in the community had spoken to them in favor of retaining Berner after his absence.

McManis previously has said granting Berner a leave would be the "most productive decision for (the council) to make." She added that Berner's 10 years of council experience and service as council president for the past two years are reasons for retaining him.

Daubert, Wettstone and Lavin have differed with Berner before when they voted against him for council president in 1992.