Commissioner Kelly Fraasch to meet with constituents this Saturday

Want to meet with a Mt. Lebanon Commissioner to talk about the Mt. Lebanon issues on your mind? Then this Saturday is your lucky day! Commissioner Kelly Fraasch is setting aside time to meet with you. Just schedule an appointment and you’re all set.

She wrote to us with the details:

I would like to put out in public that I am going to host a Commissioner Day on Saturday, March 17, 2012.

Obviously my opinions and ideas that are shared are mine and mine alone.

I have slots for 30 minutes running from 7:30am-11:00am. I already have 11:30 scheduled.

7:30-8:00
8:00-8:30
8:30-9:00
9:00-9:30
9:30-10:00
10:00-10:30
10:30-11:00
11:00-11:30
11:30 SCHEDULED

I will be hosting at Orbis Caffe (former Aldo’s) on Washington Road.

I need to have the appointments pre-scheduled via email kelly@kellyfraasch.com.

Raja resigns (Update 3)

Blog-Lebo has just learned that D. Raja has resigned his seat on the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Commission, effective immediately. His term was to end December 31, 2011.

In the primary election on May 17, 2011, Raja won the Republican nomination for Allegheny County Executive.

Update: Ward 5 Commissioner Dan Miller has more information on his blog.

Update 2: The municipality is now calling for candidates to fill the vacancy:

Seeking Ward I Commission applicants
LEGAL NOTICE
MT. LEBANON, PENNSYLVANIA

The Mt. Lebanon Commission is seeking letters of interest with resumes from residents of the First Ward of Mt. Lebanon who would like to be appointed to fill an unexpired term as a Commissioner.

At the time of appointment, a Commissioner shall be a citizen of the United States, shall be at least twenty-five years of age, shall have been a registered voter in the Municipality for at least two years, and shall be a bona fide resident of the First Ward of Mt. Lebanon. The term of this appointment shall continue until January 2, 2012 or until the installation of the person elected at the next general election.

First Ward residents who are interested in this position should submit a letter of interest and resume to: Stephen M. Feller, Municipal Manager, 710 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228. Letters of interest shall be in a sealed envelope marked “COMMISSIONER APPLICATION” and must be received by the Manager no later than 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, June 9, 2011.

Update 3: More coverage:

• Mt. Lebanon commissioner resigns to focus on county exec bid (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
• Raja resigns from Mt. Lebanon to focus on campaign (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Raja resigns (Lebo Citizens Blog)

Will the school board choose secrecy or better coordination with the municipality?

Over on his blog, Commissioner Dan Miller sheds some light on the proposed joint steering meetings between the municipality and the school board. It’s a topic we’ve discussed before on Blog-Lebo (19 comments; 5 comments), but it’s worth revisiting because, now that the commissioners have reconsidered the legality of closed meetings, it looks like there will be no meetings unless they are open. From Dan Miller’s blog posting:

Upon hearing the Solicitor’s opinion in executive session, the Commission decided unanimously to rescind our offer to participate in private joint steering meetings and instead extended an offer for public meetings to begin asap. Four Commissioners were present at that time of this unanimous decision. (Emphasis in original.)

What’s interesting is that this reversal creates what economists call a “natural experiment”: it’s when Nature changes some variable, normally beyond our control, in a way that allows us to measure something that ordinarily we could not.

In this case, that something we ordinarily could not measure is the school district’s preference for secrecy. (I use “secrecy” here not to be dramatic but to be precise: the content of the joint steering meetings, as originally proposed by the school district, was not merely to be closed to the public but also unrecorded and therefore never subject to public review.) Now, thanks to the counteroffer from the commission, we can learn whether the school board values secrecy more than better coordination with the municipality.

That’s because, now that closed meetings are off the table, the school board can’t have both secrecy and better coordination: it must choose between the two. If it chooses to go ahead with the open meetings, we’ll know it was willing to give up secrecy for better coordination with the municipality. But, if it chooses not to go ahead, we’ll know that secrecy was more important.

(My argument assumes that secrecy is not somehow essential to better coordination with the municipality. If you believe otherwise, that without secrecy the joint steering meetings cannot bear fruit, then I can understand why you might reject open meetings. But, if any elected representative believes this, I want to hear them say it in public, especially since what they do say in public is that they believe in openness and transparency.)

Pretty soon, the school board is going to have to decide whether to accept the commission’s offer of open meetings. When they do, we will learn something important about the school board’s values.

Commissioner Dan Miller Goes Online

New Mt. Lebanon Commissioner Dan Miller, who represents Ward 5, is live online with a new (but technically "unofficial") website and weblog. Check it out at www.danmillerward5.com.

Congrats to Dan on a nice looking site and on taking the online plunge. I hope that all of your constituents and all of the citizens of Mt. Lebanon appreciate it. And I hope that the other commissioners follow your lead. The weather may be cool, but the water is warm!

For New Official, Business Is His Business

It's not unusual for Raja to take trips out of town, given the global nature of his IT services and consulting company, Mt. Lebanon-based Computer Enterprises Inc. But Raja, who, by Indian custom has a one-name name, was doing something a little different this week. He took a vacation.

But it's back to work Monday, when Raja and fellow first-term Commissioners Dan Miller and Joe DeIuliis take their seats at the first regular Mt. Lebanon municipal meeting of 2008.

Link: www.post-gazette.com/pg/08010/847997-55.stm

Raja-juvenation

Raja, our new 1st Ward Commissioner, was recently highlighted in the latest Pittsburgh Magazine:

Link: http://www.wqed.org/mag/features/0108/raja.php

Commission Approves $44.6 Million Budget

Mt. Lebanon said good-bye Dec. 10 to three commissioners totaling 28 years of service. Barbara Logan, David Humphreys and Keith Mulvihill all ended their terms with one final budget vote.

The five commissioners voted unanimously for the $44.6 million budget, which will result in no change to the present 4.97 millage rate, a decision the outgoing commissioners were happy to make as they left office.

"I'm glad we were able to enact a budget without a tax increase. I think that is a good thing and I hope that can continue after those of us that are leaving are gone," said commissioner Mulvihill.

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/12_19_ML_final_budget_B

Golfers Can Still Learn From Kluck

Golfers at the Mt. Lebanon municipal course can still take lessons with Matthew Kluck, although through a new arrangement. Commissioners Monday agreed to a settlement with Mr. Kluck, the longtime head pro who filed a lawsuit in federal court two years ago, claiming age discrimination.

Without admitting to any wrongdoing or liability, Mt. Lebanon agreed to pay $15,000 to Mr. Kluck and $10,000 to his attorney.

Link 1: www.post-gazette.com/pg/07347/841135-55.stm

Link 2: www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_543575.html

Pool Plans On Hold In Mt. Lebanon

After hours in meetings and touring other facilities, Mt. Lebanon commissioners decided Dec. 3 to postpone a decision on renovation of the swimming pool, letting the new commission to decide when assuming office in the new year.

The municipality spent $32,000 for a feasibility study carried out by Hunsaker-Counsilman from St. Louis. The recommendation came down to two options, $9,960,000 for a 50-meter competitive pool with a separate leisure pool, or $7,370,000 for a 25-meter competitive with a separate leisure pool.

Link: www.thealmanac.net/ALM/Story/12_12_ML_pool_postpone_B

Raja Reaches Out

Back in October, Blog-Lebo published a newsletter from Mt. Lebanon Commissioner John Daley. I wrote at the time that we would be happy to host messages from other Commissioners and members of the School Board. Raja, Commissioner-elect from Ward 5 1, asked me to post the following on his behalf:

Feedback on budget

Dear Mt. Lebanon Residents,

First of all, thank you for your encouragement and support during the Commissioner Campaign. I am excited to have your endorsement; the real work begins now and I look forward to this. I would like your feedback on some private sector ideas’ applicability to the public sector (I have already shared with the Commissioners and asked for their feedback).

The final 2008 budget has been presented to the Commission for approval. I presume that whatever cost reductions are feasible have been incorporated into the budget as presented. Just as in the private sector, this is an ideal time to optimize efficiency and performance for the coming year. How about offering a substantial bonus by the end of 2008 to any municipal employee who can come up with a substantial reduction in costs without impacting service, taxes or indebtedness? I am envisioning something like a $40K bonus for ideas that save $2M. (Remember that this $2M savings can continue beyond one year.) The bonus can be pro-rated in proportion to the savings (ex: a $2K bonus for a $100K savings).

In the private sector, an incentive like this to the appropriate employee would cause him or her to really go above and beyond (brainstorming with every employee in his or her department, thinking out of the box, eliminating redundancies, sharing resources, using technology, etc.) to make this happen. The individual most apt to know where to cut costs without impacting service is the one who is responsible for overseeing the costs & services. And, more importantly, there will be a buy-in internally within the staff.

In the private sector, this kind of approach works best after the budget has been finally approved. This way, the natural temptation to pad the budget with things that can later be removed as “cost savings” is avoided. I also think this kind of an approach can only be done every 5+ years (allowing for “status quo” buildup).

Two other areas where I would welcome your responses:

How about providing the same sort of incentive to any municipal employee who devises a way to increase revenue without raising taxes, increasing indebtedness or impacting service? However, such an incentive should be payable only after the increased revenues were received.

In the private sector, many companies set goals for their department heads to improve productivity (say 10%) and decrease costs (say 10%) without impacting service. What do you think of similar objectives for public sector department heads?

When you respond to these suggestions, please provide your name and address. I look forward to your feedback. Thanks.

Raja
Commissioner-Elect, Mt. Lebanon

[To Blog-Lebo readers/commenters: Please do Raja the courtesy of using your real name and a real email address when you post. Or, you may email comments to me and I'll forward them to Raja. Mike]

Commissioner John Daley Newsletter, Part III

[Read Part I here.]
[Read Part II here.]

TIF

Another issue the Commission has been wrestling with for years
has been development of the property at the corner of Washington and
Bower Hill Roads. The land, sometimes referred to as the "Pennzoil
Property" has been sitting vacant, unused and generating very little
in tax revenue for decades. Back in 1995, a comprehensive plan for the
development of "gateways" to the community was completed on behalf
of the Township. The plan, known as "Chan Krieger," proposed
moderate-density lower scale apartments or condos with a first-floor
retail component for this northern Washington Road gateway to Mt.
Lebanon.

As anyone can discern, the Washington-Bower Hill land has still
sat vacant for the last twelve years. There was an ultimately-aborted
attempt at development with a builder some years back, but that attempt
failed largely due to the developer's inability to secure financing
for the project. In the late Spring of 2005, the Township invited a
Request for Qualifications (RFQ) from developers interested in building
a project envisioned by the Chan Krieger Plan. The process ultimately
led to Zamagias Properties being selected as the developer.

The controversy surrounding the project is not the development
itself but rather has been the securing of Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
by Zamagias. Before addressing the controversy, I will preface my
discussion with one item about the project which I do not believe is
controversial; namely, I believe persons on either side of the TIF issue
would agree that the project itself is a worthy one, will be attractive
in appearance and will provide a "shot in the arm" to the Washington
Road commercial district.

The real question has been whether this type of project in this
community is worthy of a TIF. As a general rule, I share the opinion of
Fifth Ward Commissioner Keith Mulvihill that private development is just
that - private - and that it should succeed or fail based upon its own
merits. However, as with any general rule, I also believe there are
exceptions. The simple fact is that the Pennzoil property has been
vacant and gathering weeds for the last few decades. It is an eyesore
and generates only roughly $13,300.00 in municipality and school
district real estate taxes collectively on an annual basis. While a
developer could certainly come in and proceed with a project without a
TIF, the project we would get would not be what is envisioned by Chan
Krieger. During the process, I came to the conclusion that the Zamagias
project was a worthy and worthwhile development and that the land would
not get developed pursuant to the Chan Krieger Plan without a TIF.

As I stated during a public meeting when the Commission approved
a TIF district for the development, the TIF process was far from
perfect. I think the developer should have been more prompt in its
submissions of plans and documentation. The Commission had to grant
extensions to Zamagias on more than one occasion. I also believe the
Township, including the Commission, could have consulted more closely
with the School District during the process.

Nevertheless, I still believe proceeding with the TIF for
Zamagias was the right thing to do. I believe one of the misconceptions
that arose during the debate on whether to proceed was the idea that the
Township and School District would be giving the developer something
akin to a wheel-barrel of cash and that the taxpayers would be fleeced.
To the contrary, under the TIF, an agreed-upon percentage of the
incremental increased tax on the property is placed in a fund to repay
the developer's loan. With the development and improvement to the
real estate, there will still be much greater tax revenue to both the
Township and the School District, even with the TIF. I believe
Commissioner Dave Humphreys of the Third Ward provided an excellent
rebuttal to the arguments against the TIF in his October 2006
Commissioner's Report in Mt. Lebanon Magazine, and I would encourage
you to read the same. If you no longer have the October 2006 issue, it
is available online at the Mt. Lebanon website.

The deer management, aquatic center and TIF issues I have
discussed in this newsletter are of course only a relatively small
portion of the challenges I have seen as a Commissioner. In future
newsletters and in my Mt. Lebanon Magazine reports, I hope to engage in
a discussion of other questions as well. As always, I am available for
questions, comments and criticism via telephone call, e-mail or simply
approaching me on the street. My contact information is at the
www.mtlebanon.org site.

Commissioner John Daley Newsletter, Part II

[Read Part I here.]

AQUATIC CENTER

Another question the Commission has been dealing with for the
last few years has been that of replacing our community swimming pool.
The current pool, completed in 1977, is at the end of its useful life.
The aluminum shell of the pool is buckling in places, and the
underground piping is in danger of failing. It is possible to get a few
more years out of the existing facility, but it is safe to say that
simply putting band-aids on the current pool is not a long-term
solution.

That being said, the real issue has been how to proceed. A few
years ago, there was a proposal for the Township and School District to
build an indoor natatorium that would combine competitive swimming with
a community facility. Largely out of reasons of cost, this proposal was
abandoned. About 14 months ago, we commissioned the aquatic firm of
Counsilman-Hunsaker to conduct an aquatic feasibility study for
replacing the current community pool. There were three public input
sessions in which citizens and stakeholder groups could voice their
ideas and concerns for a new facility. There was also a blog for
persons to post their comments and ideas online.

Counsilman-Hunsaker came up with an aquatic feasibility report
which discussed five separate options for a new facility. Each one of
these options contained cost and revenue estimates which took into
account demographic trends and inflation. The options ranged from
simply replacing the current 50-meter pool to an elaborate indoor
facility along the lines of the abandoned proposal for a combined
school-community facility. The indoor options (there were actually two
of these) are essentially off the table at this point. They are
cost-prohibitive, and the school district has indicated a lack of
interest in revisiting the combined facility idea.

At this time, there are three Counsilman-Hunsaker outdoor
options being considered. One is to simply replace the existing pool
with another 50-meter pool. The cost estimate for this proposal is
about $6.6 million. Another proposal is for a single body of water
which would combine a 25-meter competitive element with a recreational
element. This option has a $7.37 million cost estimate. The final of
the existing options still on the table is for two separate bodies of
water - a 50-meter competitive pool and a separate body for recreational
use. The estimate for this proposal is $9.96 million.

Under the latter two options, for the recreational element of
the facility, the idea of zero-depth entry (i.e., like a beach or as
with Dormont Pool) has some support. The recreational element would
also encompass amenities such as slides and fountains (something the
existing pool has). The idea for a vortex and/or "lazy river" has
also come up as a recreational element. Finally, there appears to be
some support for heating a new facility, something the existing pool
does not have. Having heated water could potentially increase the use
the pool would get in June, which can be on the cool side.

At recent Commission discussion sessions, there have been
concerns over cost raised. The replacement of the pool would be a
capital improvement project, necessitating the floating of a bond issue.
A bond issue requires four affirmative votes by the Commission.
Although I certainly would like to see Mt. Lebanon having a first-class
community aquatic facility for the long-term, there are legitimate
budgetary concerns about the debt service on such a significant
undertaking. At this time, I believe the support does exist on the
Commission to go forward with a project to build a new facility. I am
not sure the support is there, however, to go forward with the most
expensive of the outdoor options. I have also heard from citizens who
do not want to see a facility that essentially makes Mt. Lebanon's
pool as "Sandcastle-Mt. Lebanon." I do not believe even the most
elaborate of the existing options does that.

At this point, I cannot predict with certainty as to whether the
Commission will go forward with budgeting for the aquatic center before
the end of this year. There will be three new Commissioners coming to
office in January, and there may be a feeling among the outgoing members
of the Commission to defer to the new group coming in. It is also
possible that we may ask Counsilman-Hunsaker to come up with a hybrid
option that combines some of the desirable elements of the existing
proposals with an eye toward keeping the costs down. I am confident
that the Commission will proceed with a new facility, but it may be a
year before we act.

Commissioner John Daley Newsletter, Part I

John Daley, Commissioner in Mt. Lebanon's Ward 2, asked if Blog-Lebo would post a newsletter on his behalf. We're happy to do so, and the first Part of the three-Part newsletter appears below.

Any other Mt. Lebanon Commissioners and School Board members who would like to do the same are welcome to do so. Candidates for Commissioner and School Board are also welcome to send us newsletters for posting. Please contact us.

JOHN DALEY ANNUAL NEWSLETTER 2007

In my campaign for the office of Second Ward Commissioner in
2005, I promised to put out an annual newsletter for persons living in
the Second Ward. With the internet and, more specifically, the advent
of blogging, I believe this medium of communication is the best way to
reach not only Second Ward residents who take an active interest in
local government, but for persons in all of Mt. Lebanon as well. What I
would like to do here is to discuss some issues of interest I have faced
in Mt. Lebanon since my time on the Commission, as well as to address
the positions I have taken on the same.

Before I talk about some of the issues I have dealt with facing
the community, I want to make one prefacing statement; namely, that if
there is one absolute for anyone who holds public office no matter what
the level, it is that you can never be all things to all people or
please all of the people all of the time. Dealing with issues of policy
in a representative form of government requires an elected
representative to take positions with his or her votes. It is simply
inevitable that some of those votes are going to be disagreed with by
some. Without further adieu then, here are some of the issues (and this
is by no means exhaustive of issues facing the community) I have seen
and my take on the same.

DEER MANAGEMENT

Perhaps the issue I have seen that has generated the most
passion in my 20 months or so on the Commission has been that of the
deer. It is in fact a question that pre-dated my election in November
2005. During a Commission meeting I attended as a candidate, a public
hearing was conducted as to culling (in the form of a controlled hunt)
with use of professional bow hunters. Citizens rose to speak on the
question, with a majority of those in attendance speaking out against
culling operations. No further formal action was taken that year.

Upon my coming to the Commission in January 2006, the deer issue
of course did not go away. We had representatives of Upper St. Clair
come in to Commission discussion sessions to discuss their experience
with culling - first with bow hunting, and then later with United States
Department of Agriculture (USDA) sharpshooters. The Upper St. Clair
experience revealed that it was only when sharpshooters were utilized
that the number of vehicle-deer collisions was reduced. We also had
USDA representatives come in to discuss their operations in culling deer
populations, and we did have an individual appear at a discussion
session via telephone conference to speak to contraception methodology.

A Deer Management Plan was commissioned and posted on the
municipal web site, and we did conduct another public hearing on the
subject. As was the case in 2005, a large number of citizens rose up in
opposition to a controlled hunt - some citing safety concerns with the
use of firearms, and others philosophically opposed to the idea of using
lethal methods to manage the deer population. Unlike the year before,
however, nearly as many people at the public hearing voiced support for
a controlled hunt. Some of these citizens were from the Second Ward.
In addition to this, a solid majority of the phone calls and e-mails I
received on the deer management subject were in support of the idea of a
controlled hunt.

My own personal view that developed during the process was to
support USDA going forward. I believe we did (and still do) have a
deer problem in Mt. Lebanon, particularly in the Second Ward, with Bird
Park and Robb Hollow Park being areas where significant numbers of deer
are. I would readily admit that the problem is not as pronounced in
areas such as the Fifth Ward, where the Washington Road business
district is. The deer population problem that convinced me that culling
was necessary was the issue of vehicle-deer collisions. Although
persons speaking of damage to gardens and shrubbery, as well as the risk
of lyme disease, played some factor in developing my view, those factors
alone were not enough to convince me to go forward. It was the very
real prospect of a collision between a vehicle and deer that would
involve either serious injuries or fatalities.

I also became convinced that contraception was not a realistic
option - in terms of feasibility, effectiveness and cost. I also was
satisfied that the USDA would take adequate safety precautions in their
culling operations. Their experience in other communities has been
solid in terms of safety. There has not been a single injury to a
person reported in all of the years of USDA conducting culling
operations. We were also briefed at length as to the safety precautions
USDA uses, such as using a softer ammunition that expands on impact in
order to decrease the risk of a ricochet, taking shots from elevated
positions so that the bullet travels downward and only with a backdrop
in the case of a miss. This also decreases the risk of a ricochet.
Finally, the USDA personnel conducting the hunt were to be professionals
and not some over-enthusiastic weekend hunters.

At the end of the day, I and three other Commissioners voted to
authorize USDA to engage in a controlled hunt or culling of the deer
population with use of sharpshooters in the areas of our public parks
and golf course. During the course of the culling operation between
February and early April 2007, some 69 deer were killed and removed,
with the venison meat of 68 of the deer being donated to local food
banks. Not a single injury was reported during the culling, and I am
not aware of more than one or two complaints registered which related to
persons seeing the removal of deer which had already been shot.

The deer issue has recently come up again. On Wednesday,
September 26, 2007, the Commission conducted a two-hour public meeting
on deer management. We heard from Craig Swope of USDA, and the USDA
report is available on the Mt. Lebanon web site at www.mtlebanon.org.
The report summarized the culling activities earlier this year, and it
recommends that 150 deer be targeted for the 2007-2008 winter months.
During the meeting, approximately 25 citizens spoke and provided their
opinion on the deer issue. A clear majority of the persons there (I
counted 17) were in favor of the culling and indicated that they would
support further culling activities by USDA.

As for those of you who are opposed to the approach the
Commission has taken - whether philosophically, for safety reasons or
for a combination of the two - I can respect your viewpoints. The issue
is one where I believe reasonable minds can differ. At the end of the
day, I can only say that I looked at the issue, determined there was
indeed a problem based upon the evidence presented and made the best
call I thought I could given the situation.