Lebo: TIF Deadline Approaches

Lebo residents John Ewing and Joe Wertheim are circulating emails to friends and neighbors trying to draw public attention to an approaching deadline in the Zamagias/TIF application process. Here's the text. John's message refers to a letter from Bill Matthews, which I'll post shortly.

Yet another TIF committee expiration deadline will pass on Monday evening [that's Monday, August 14]. If the expiration is not extended the TIF dies, the commission will be voting on an extension next Monday. I have attached a letter in opposition to the TIF deadline extension from Bill Mathews to Commission President Barbara Logan. If the TIF approval should not be extended Mr. Zamagias can decide to risk his own money for his own profit without a public tax subsidy.

You should let the commission know before Monday evening if you don’t want to divert $10,000,000 from your children’s educational dollars into a developer’s pocket over the next 20 years.

I haven’t heard the TIF committee even has any detailed figures from Zamagias and the committee doesn’t have another meeting until next week. Consider that the TIF committee work was to be finished by now and it hasn’t even started, so why more extensions?

Send your objections to these commissioners. Their email addresses are:

dcolby@mtlebanon.org

dhumphreys@mtlebanon.org

jmdaley@brd-law.com

These are the three commissioners Mr. Mathews thinks are most likely to vote for the TIF extension.

Please ask them not to divert you tax educational dollars tax dollars to risky real estate speculation.

Also Joe Wertheim wrote a very cogent email to these three commissioners about the sunshine law. Joe identifies the law firm I referred to in my last email as a firm that does a lot of legal business with the school district. This is the firm that does special education legal work for the school district. Special education parents should take special interest in the contempt this law firm treats actions that are legal i.e. making the TIF committee meetings open to the public.

With Joe’s permission I have copied his email for you below: It was sent to the three commissioners above, the school board’s and commissioner’s members of the TIF committee and Steve Feller, the municipal manager. It says:

Subject: TIF committee

The Sunshine Act and the Right to Know Law "requires all public agencies to take all official actions and conduct all deliberations leading up to official actions at public meetings." "The Act covers all such actions by municipal governing bodies, committees of these governing bodies and municipal boards and commissions." "The 'agency' is defined as the governing body, and all committees authorized by the body to take official action and render advice on agency business. This includes state agencies as well as political subdivisions, school districts and municipal authorities." "All municipal governing bodies and their committees are covered by the Act."

The Sunshine Act "defines a 'meeting' as any prearranged gathering of an agency attended by a quorum of members held for the purpose of deliberating agency business or taking official action. " 'Deliberation' means the discussion of agency business held for the purpose of making a decision."

Despite the opinion offered by Mr. Giglio of Andrews & Price, I fail to see how the Zamagias TIF committee meetings fail to meet the legal standards set forth in the Sunshine Act. These committee meetings are clearly prearranged, authorized by the school board and the municipality, where deliberations and discussions take place with the intent of rendering advice on agency business.

Mr. Giglio stated in his written opinion that "it would be detrimental to the information gathering and formative negotiating process if the TIF Committee were to opt to conduct its Committee meetings as public meetings." He goes on to say that "the Committee should be able to strategize, question and learn about the details of the TIF proposal without oversight or pressure by outside agencies. An open public meeting would likely inhibit open discussion and the free flow of information…"

Outside agencies?? Is that how you look at your constituents? I believe that those of you who were elected are supposed to represent the residents of Mt. Lebanon, not look upon them as opponents, or outside agencies!

The "free flow of information" is, in fact, being inhibited because you have chosen to conduct these meetings in secret.

All this being said, I would like for you to answer one question for me.
Despite Mr. Giglio's opinion, there is nothing which would have kept either municipal or school board representatives from refusing to participate in this committee unless its meetings were open to the public. Why did you not demand this?

Joe Wertheim
Mt. Lebanon