Briefly reading through the 445 pages, I learned that I received my first email from Dave Brumfield in a RTK request. And it was an email he sent to me. Imagine that!
A couple more things I am going to share this evening before I go to sleep is a response from Kristen Linfante to Lebo Citizens reader Damion Deringer where she explains in the second paragraph that she is commission liaison to the ESB, and they are not opposed to turf.
In another email, Kristen told a constituent who is opposed to using any taxpayer funds for the installation of artificial turf at the Wildcat/Middle fields, that the commissioners "received overwhelming community support for this action." What is "overwhelming community support?" Fifteen emails in support, mostly saying:
"Our family supports the turf proposal that will be considered by the Commission on November 25. Please vote YES. Thank you."
Three additional emails were from a spouse or coworker of a Turf Task Force member.I thought there were "thousands of children and adults within Mt. Lebanon" who are in support. In fact, on page eight of John Bendel's Field Enhancement Proposal, "Sports Advisory Board and all stakeholders support
the project." And you only received a total of 18 emails, with three of those being connected to a Turf Task Force member!
the project." And you only received a total of 18 emails, with three of those being connected to a Turf Task Force member!
I wanted to get something out to Lebo Citizens readers since there has been some interest. Or in Kristen Linfante's words, "Overwhelming!" "Thousands!"
More to come.
Update March 1, 2014 2:45 PM What a morning! I have been asking the commissioners all this time, if Steve Feller ever asked for personal emails or texts. The email exchanges are in two parts. One of Kristen's responses didn't carry over, so I have the exchange in two parts..
Were commissioners asked to supply personal emails or texts Part 1
Were commissioners asked to supply personal emails or texts Part 2
Update March 1, 2014 4:24 PM This appears to be Phase 1. Dave P. Franklin wrote comments on the rough draft of the "Mt. Lebanon Field Enhancement Proposal" on 11/6/13. Check his notes on page six written next to the bullet No additional lights proposed at this time. On the final copy of the Mt. Lebanon Field Enhancement Proposal, see page seven. Dave's notes were not included.
Another thing that I picked up from the February 24, 2014 Discussion Session which I was not able to attend, John Bendel was explaining the next steps. At 1:01:00, http://mtlebanon.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=116, John recommends that Gateway do a landscape design from Morgan Drive to the end of the Wildcat parking lot so that we have, when it is done, a showpiece type project. What does that mean? Are they going to try to turf Dixon too? It would be rather silly to have two artificial turf fields next to a grass field. Riiight.
Update March 1, 2014 7:03 PM Kluck response No emails
Kluck response No texts
Update March 1, 2014 2:45 PM What a morning! I have been asking the commissioners all this time, if Steve Feller ever asked for personal emails or texts. The email exchanges are in two parts. One of Kristen's responses didn't carry over, so I have the exchange in two parts..
Were commissioners asked to supply personal emails or texts Part 1
Were commissioners asked to supply personal emails or texts Part 2
Update March 1, 2014 4:24 PM This appears to be Phase 1. Dave P. Franklin wrote comments on the rough draft of the "Mt. Lebanon Field Enhancement Proposal" on 11/6/13. Check his notes on page six written next to the bullet No additional lights proposed at this time. On the final copy of the Mt. Lebanon Field Enhancement Proposal, see page seven. Dave's notes were not included.
Another thing that I picked up from the February 24, 2014 Discussion Session which I was not able to attend, John Bendel was explaining the next steps. At 1:01:00, http://mtlebanon.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=3&clip_id=116, John recommends that Gateway do a landscape design from Morgan Drive to the end of the Wildcat parking lot so that we have, when it is done, a showpiece type project. What does that mean? Are they going to try to turf Dixon too? It would be rather silly to have two artificial turf fields next to a grass field. Riiight.
Update March 1, 2014 7:03 PM Kluck response No emails
Kluck response No texts
Update March 2, 2014 1:27 PM Out of the 1500 emails that were in Steve Feller's original quote to me, only one email was sent to former Commission President Matt Kluck. Here is the email sent from Dave Franklin.
Update March 2, 2014 5:20 PM I found a couple more emails from Dave Brumfield. Here are two of them and they are both to me. One more is coming. It is about a poser, someone falsely representing himself to a turf company. That is a whole story in itself.
Update March 2, 2014 6:55 PM People have asked me how the commission came up with the numbers that will be used to fund the toxic turf project. This email from John Bendel might provide some answers to Lebo Citizens readers.
Update March 3, 2014 8:58 AM It appears that Commissioner John Bendel, Recreation Director David Donnellan, and Manager Steve Feller are aware that our municipal grant writer, Katherine Heart is working with the sports groups to pursue grants for the non-municipal funding for the turf project. Email is here.
Update March 3, 2014 1:54 PM See March 1, 2014 at 2:45 PM. I received this response from Steve Feller today.
Elaine,
These emails were forwarded to me for response.
I did not specifically ask for personal emails for the following reasons.
1. Mt. Lebanon has established email accounts for each Commissioner. The Commissioners are to use these accounts for municipal business, which they do. One reason we set these accounts up is for this very reason, i.e. so we can response to RTK requests more easily.
2. The Commonwealth Court has held that an email between a resident and a commissioner in a private email account is not a public record. That is another reason why I did not ask.
3. The Commonwealth Court has also held that there is no duty to ask for email in a private account from a former official. This applies to former Commissioner Kluck.
4. Lastly, I have on rare occasion asked Commissioners to review emails from a personal account. This was done before there was a practice of having all municipal business done on the municipal e-mail account.
Thanks.
Steve Feller
83 comments:
Now I'm UPSET... I've never got an email from Dave B! I only get nasty looks and the evil eye. But are you sure you got all the emails? Dave B. is a good ole democrat and I'm sure he has taken lessons from the democrats in DC and it's pretty clear they hide more than they release.
Thank you Elaine, for your hardwork and preservence!
Thank your donor for also picking up the tab.
Thos the kind of investigating our 'free' press should be doing, instead of jotting down a few board or commission notes and publishing 'facts' from the PIO's press release.
Well done!
There were no texts (never in ANY of my RTKs, municipal or district), and nothing from personal email accounts or work email accounts. There were some emails that John had sent from his work or home account, which he would copy to his mtl account, but those addresses were redacted.
The sixth commissioner, Franklin conducts much of his mtl business from his office. Poor guy. IT, you need to set up his commissioner account ASAP. If you can't, see if Franklin can borrow Brumfield's account since he isn't using it.
Elaine
I'll wager a bet that there are very few e-mails sent by or from Bendel and Brumfield (and Franklin, DBA a commissioner) in the 455 RTK pages even though they have been and continue to be the prime movers in this project. Why ? They undoubtedly know how to game the RTK system.
I just sent this email to the commission.
Commissioners,
As you know, I filed a Right To Know on 01-24-14 requesting all communication to and from commissioners dated November 1, 2013 - January 24, 2014.
Did any of you receive a request from Mt. Lebanon Manager, Steve Feller for personal emails and/or texts concerning my RTK?
I cc'ed you individually since my emails to the commission have been bouncing back.
Elaine
Someone did share a horror story with me concerning a sweet deal with Underarmour which John Grogan blew over this turf fundraising. It appears that UA wanted to work with the high school and supply much needed equipment to the weight room, etc., but Grogan insisted that they also make a $2,500 donation toward the nonmunicipal share for the turf project. UA went elsewhere.
Elaine
What I found so laughable was Linfante's rational that turf is green because it doesn't need mowed!
Is this woman thinking at all? Sure it doesn't need to be mowed, but it does need to be swept and disinfected. Does she believe the required maintenance will be performed by people using brooms and mops?
No, they'll use the same tractor as they use to mow a grass field.
Can we take anything this commissioner says worth a grain of salt?
Ths is slightly off topic, but since we're looking at rewriting the Home Rule Charter, we may have just seen some good reasons for adding a recall provision in the Charter to deal with officials that lie or mislead.
I remember one email I saw from Kristen where she said that she would love to have grass fields, but that wasn't an option. So why did she vote to have two grass fields removed?
Elaine
Not off topic, 12:09 PM. Would that go for anyone serving on a board or authority? How about commissioners not emailing the entire commission?
I don't remember too many emails where Matt and Kelly were copied by other commissioners.
Elaine
Yes Elaine, I would include members of boards and authorities.
I'm with 9:05, it seems obvious you've only uncovered the tip of the iceberg.
Isn't it funny that this article "springing into fraud season" appeared on Lebomag.com.
Since I had just read Elaine's exposé on the RTK results, I thought there might be a connection and the magazine was hard and fast on telling us how to protect ourselves from fraud regarding turf proposals.
Here's dictionary.com's definition of fraud.
fraud noun
1. deceit, trickery, sharp practice, or breach of confidence, perpetrated for profit or to gain some unfair or dishonest advantage.
2. a particular instance of such deceit or trickery: mail fraud; election frauds.
3. any deception, trickery, or humbug: That diet book is a fraud and a waste of time.
Sadly, I was disappointed that the two blogs weren't on the same subject.
So originally there were 1500 emails but the muni opted to provide you with under 500, stating that the other THOUSAND are protected? One thousand turf-related emails are protected from public disclosure?
If one little email wasn't included in this RTK that should have been included, what is the consequence?
This is a sad day for Mt Lebanon.
Not exactly. It is worse than that. 445 pages, not emails, which included many presentations already linked on my blog.
Elaine
Attorney client priviledge- when it may not apply!
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney–client_privilege
When an attorney is not acting primarily as an attorney but, for instance, as a business advisor, member of the Board of Directors, or in another non-legal role, then the privilege generally does not apply.[6]
The privilege protects the confidential communication, and not the underlying information. For instance, if a client has previously disclosed confidential information to a third party who is not an attorney, and then gives the same information to an attorney, the attorney–client privilege will still protect the communication to the attorney, but will not protect the communication with the third party.
So, the question for me is why would any of our commissioners or board member need to be talking to an attorney in their communications regarding the turf proposal.
If they're communicating with the solicitor or another attorney wouldn't it be in a business advisory role? So far, no one has been accused of a crime so why the firewall of attorney/client priviledge???
So, the attorney client priviledge apply regarding non-legal roles.
So what "legal roles" were in play? Contracts or business arrangements? Partnerships?
Me thinks something smells fishy in the State of Mt. Lebanon.
Please check the update I posted at 2:45 PM. I thought I was asking a simple question, but it turned into an ordeal.
Elaine
My question was, "Did any of you receive a request from Mt. Lebanon Manager, Steve Feller for personal emails and/or texts concerning my RTK?"
Elaine
Can you share more details on what exactly happened between Grogan and Under Armour?
That is all I know. I submitted a RTK to the School District this afternoon.
Perhaps some readers can provide more details.
Elaine
I heard he screwed up a sweet deal.
Elaine
"Oh what a complex web we weave when first we practice to deceive." Wm. Shakespeare
"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time." Abe Lincoln
"it's unanimous." K. Linfante.
Yes, Kristin, it is obvious, and we all see through you.
The Swamp Fox.
Matt Kluck responded to my questions. I added his emails to this post in my third update.
Still need to hear from Brumfield, Bendel, and Silverman.
Elaine
Don't miss my second update. Bendel directed Gateway,with the approval from the commission, to do a landscape design starting from MORGAN DRIVE. Is phase 2 going to be turfing Dixon Field?
Elaine
Page 7 of rough draft...increase opportunities for expanded youth programs. What?
7:43 they have to find more ways to get kids to sign up for more sports activities to feed the beast. Remember... enrollments are dropping in the district.
Plus, as they divert and funnel more and more money into their crown jewel all the other fields, like Brafferton get neglected and continue to deteriorate.
How many emails did you get that were against turf?
Not thousands, that is for sure. You would be happy to know that if you count the spouses of the Turf Project Task Force, and business partners of the TPTF, there were exactly twice as many emails as the anti turf emails. 27 emails in total makes the whole email thing insignificant. In the end, the three commissioners have elected to push through toxic turf. Organic infill is just part of turf. The rest is still toxic.
In the scheme of things, does it really matter the number of emails?
Elaine
I should add that 27 emails were from private citizens. There were many emails from members of the ESB and PAB who were not in favor of the turf project.
Elaine
No, the number of anti-turf emails doesn't matter. I am just wondering what all is being suppressed. Surely some of the anti-turf emails have been left out of this RTK. I figure that if over two-thirds of emails were not shared, we cannot believe two-thirds of what this commission/muni tells us.
I don't know how many emails were given to me. Originally, many of the 1500 emails had more than 1 page. What I ended up getting included large presentations. I was charged for 445 PAGES, not emails. We will never know, 8:46 PM.
Elaine
And no personal emails or texts. We did get that ONE email from Brumfield and he said he has been working on this for four years. Why stop now, Dave?
Elaine
Four years work and his creative solution to not enough field space and not enough quality fields is...duh...lets carpet something!
Two notes.
Kristen should absolutely, positively resign. She put turf above truth. She clearly, knowingly, and many times lied about the ESBs position on turf.
Next, step two of this process should be to document how many emails included majority commission deliberation. Each instance should result in a $100 fine to the commissioner that violated Sunshine.
I get the feeling that Kristen would owe thousands.
7:09 AM, there are more emails in which Kristen lied about the ESB's position on turf. It has been well documented here and on the municipal videos. We have it in print, audio, and video. Kristen is never going to resign. She is never wrong. It took me three hours yesterday to get a straight answer to a yes or no question.
7:09 AM, perhaps the emails which included majority commission deliberation are part of the large chunk of missing emails.
Elaine
I should add that even if Kristen resigns, the third majority vote for turf would come from Steve Silverman. He is pretty involved in this process. More to come on that.
Also, Kristen's replacement would also be required to support artificial turf. It is the Commission majority who would appoint her replacement.
Some pretty nasty emails from Dave Franklin and Tim White concerning Kelly Fraasch. I may put those out there too.
I think I have enough material to blog about this for the rest of my life. Good news for Timmy and Cappucci, right?
Elaine
Sorry, one more comment for now. Dave Brumfield isn't clean on this either. But you can never pin anything on him because he doesn't have any emails.
Elaine
Commissioner Linfante has a propensity to dance around straightforward yes or no questions. Typical politician.
Are there any communications between the PIO/magazine and commissioners/muni employees on how they were going to spin this in the various media?
How about to the school board? Aren't they involved since they were going to maintain the turf fields supposedly.
I didn't see any communications to or from the PIO and commissioners. Remember, this was about commission communications. The manager technically reports to five commissioners, not six.
I did see John Grogan's name on emails, but for some reason, his email address was redacted.
Elaine
I mean, the meat of the email from Kristen (in the main article) is interesting.
First, she seems to be only interested in Organic turf. Someone should tell her the plan changed.
And second the ESB apparently loves turf because it doesn't need to be mowed! Really! Wow.
If anyone cares to file a RTK about PIO communications, be my guest. I am a little preoccupied at the moment.
Elaine
To illustrate exactly what a non-issue artificial turf is for the residents of Mt. Lebanon, let's look at some numbers:
* The population was 33,137 at the 2010 census
* Unemployment rate: 4.9% (Aug 2013) - (stay with me - there's a reason for including this in my analysis)
* There were 25,472 registered voters in the last General Election in November, 2013.
* According to Elaine, "..if you count the spouses of the Turf Project Task Force, and business partners of the TPTF, there were exactly twice as many [pro-turf] emails as the anti turf emails. 27 emails in total makes the whole email thing insignificant." That means 18 messages were pro-turf whilst 9 were anti-turf.
I'll get to the issue of "phone calls" and "one-on-one" meetings in a moment, but looking at just E-mail sent to the Municipality - either pro or con - only .0815% (.000815) of the entire population expressed an opinion about turf one way or the other! As far as E-mail is concerned, when Elaine says "27 emails in total makes the whole email thing insignificant" she is being kind.
What about phone messages expressing an opinion about artificial turf? Without a record of how many, and how they were distributed pro and con, we can only depend upon the word of the politicians themselves as to how many they received. Case closed.
As far as "one-on-one" expressions of interest in the artificial turf issue, we either have to take the word of the politicians themselves that they were confronted by their constituents with either a pro or con opinion, or look at Commission meetings to see exactly how many people showed up to express an opinion. Here we do have some kind of record in the form of video from the Municipality or Elaine's Podcasts. It is clear that more people showed up to support artificial turn than oppose it, but in trying to get a sense of how the community feels about the issue the numbers were still insignificant. How many of you remember the great "Sidewalk Debate" of the 1990's? Do you remember how the Commission had to schedule meetings at schools and the Recreation Center to accommodate all the residents who showed up to express their opinions? I was there - I saw it.
But let me be generous. Let's assume that TEN TIMES the number of E-mails had come to the Commission expressing an opinion. That's 270 people, or not even 1% (331 people) of the residents (and I'm being generous by using the 2010 census figures), and just 1.06% of the total registered voters. Let's be even more generous and assume the Commission could account for 100 times the number of E-mails in terms of total expressed opinions from all sources - E-mail, phone, one-on-one meetings, etc. That's a total of 2,700 people, or 8% of the residential population. That still leaves 92% of our fellow residents unaccounted for. Could the Commission come up with a way to document 2,700 expressions of opinion on artificial turf? - NO!
Finally, the unemployment rate in Mt. Lebanon is 4.9% (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). That percentage translates into 1,624 people without jobs. Since this figure could include people with part-time jobs and young people with minimum wage jobs, as well as people who have lost high-paying jobs, I'll be extremely conservative and apply an OLD per capita income figure of $33,652 in order to estimate the loss to the community in terms of Earned Income Tax. The total income lost to the unemployed is $54,650,848. The loss of EIT to the Municipality and District (1.3% tax rate includes both) is $710,461.02. It is bad enough that artificial field turn is a non-issue in this community, but spending over a million tax dollars on glorified carpet on top of a loss of nearly 3/4 million dollars in tax revenue must seem like a slap in the face to the unemployed.
Ooops! Typos in mine of March 2, 2014 at 10:11 AM:
Paragraph 4: "It is clear that more people showed up to support artificial turn than oppose it, ...." should read "It is clear that more people showed up to support artificial turf than oppose it, ..."
Paragraph 6: "It is bad enough that artificial field turn is a non-issue in this community,.." should read "It is bad enough that artificial field turf is a non-issue in this community, ..."
My apologies..I need new glasses!
And now Richard you've tied together one of the reasons the TOD is being pushed.
Its simple, because they can tap taxpayers to stimulate a development that their advisor advises won't be profitable without government help.
But they can say with a straight face-- "we didn't raise taxes!"........ "Yet!"
Gateway Engineering was at Wildcat & Middle Fields on Friday and Saturday doing survey readings from Dixon to Wildcat - a 2 man surveying team with equipment and a Gateway panel truck.
Seems they are anxious to get the turf bandwagon up and running at full speed ahead.
Has Gateway's monetary turf donation identity been changed to just "Corporate" ? Is there a prospect for conflict of interest here ?
Richard, the unemployed, the underemployed, seniors on fixed incomes matter not!
The municipal employees will go along with any plan they believe will perpetuate or elevate their positions.
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/education/2014/03/02/More-Pennsylania-students-qualifying-for-free-lunches/stories/201403020112
"Though not as hefty, even the more affluent districts had noticeable increases, [in students qualifying for free lunches] among them Fox Chapel Area, 6.8 percentage points; Hampton, 5 percentage points; Bethel Park, 6 percentage points; Mt. Lebanon, 4.4 percentage points; and Quaker Valley, 5.5 percentage points."
So what answers do our esteemed elected officials come up to help the childrens?
"Lets spend millions of dollars on showy artificial turf and $74,000 on trophy cases."
They may be hungry, but they'll be Lebo Proud.
Is Mt. Lebanon not plowing and salting residential streets today because they don't want to tsp into those undesignated funds they've earmarked for artificial turf?
After all Lebomag told us they have plenty of salt, so that can't be it.
If we had artificial turf down at Middle and Wildcat Fields, our kids could be playing their field sports today. Doesn't artificial turf give everyone the ability to play 12 months out of the year? I have heard that once or twice.
Elaine
Of course they would Elaine. They'd have been playing everday over the last few weeks and they certainly would've been getting in games on the days when the school district had delays or cancelled school.
To get to Bendel's projection of 60% more game slots they'd have to be playing on days like this otherwise how do you slot in 'more' games on fields That are supposedly already used to the max?
Global warming will take care of it!
Pretty soon it'll be balmy in Mt. Lebanon in January, February and March.
Plus don't worry about those April showers, turfed fields never flood and kids are grounded from lightning strikes if they're playing on rubber tires. ;-)
Please check the fourth update to this post. Because of the number of emails, I added it as an update. Please check the emails that were sent to Matt Kluck.
The larger stacks of emails pertaining to various topics concerning artificial turf will posted separately.
Elaine
Right off the bat in Franklin's email to Kluck he ends stating "almost 50%" of the plan would be paid for by private funds.
I know I'm not a graduate from MTLSDs TERC math program, but I'm pretty damn positive $250,000 is NOT 50% of $1.2 million.
Not even close!
Mr. Franklin since when is the golf course not used by young and old ? Off the top of my head, 4 or 5 high schools use our course. The golf course is not a public need but turfing fields is ?
This Blogger is very happy that almost 50% of the cost will be paid by private funds. You wouldn't be lying to your friend would you ?
Remember also that allowing private businesses to hang advertisements on our municipal field fences are not municipal revenues, but "private donations" to be counted towards the private contributions to field turf.
Don't forget the $4,000 donated from Gateway is going toward the non-municipal share, even though Gateway's fee is being charged to the municipality. Is that an $8,000 swing?
Elaine
Yep, Gateway gets paid out of the municipal coffers and graciously 'donates' $4,000 back in a private contribution.
Wonder do they get a 'free' field sign to advertise their services?
Just added my fifth update. This time, I added two emails with one more coming, from Dave Brumfield. Out of the alleged 1500 emails, I was only given three Brumfield emails. Two of them are to me.
Elaine
Sixth update just added and will probably be my last for tonight. I have been at this since Friday afternoon.
Sixth update is an email from John Bendel confirming the unassigned fund balance for 2013.
Elaine
Bendel copied Brumfeld only. Interesting.
Question. Did the Commission eat up all the bond money leaving nothing for the golf course or RH Park.
Question. Did the Commission eat up the rest of unassigned fund balance leaving nothing for the TOD.
Question. Is there any Commission support for Commissioner Fraash?
"Befriend your enemy."
????
Mr Franklin, with a friend like you, who would be the enemy?!?!?!
This isn't good! Check my 7th update. It appears that Commissioner John Bendel, Recreation Director David Donnellan, and Manager Steve Feller are aware that our municipal grant writer, Katherine Heart is working with the sports groups to pursue grants for the non-municipal funding for the turf project.
Elaine
Politicians go to jail for using government paid employees to work on their private election committees.
Why should a municipal employee be allowed to work on the pursuit of grants for non-public sports groups?
The county will not have anything to do with this project since they are in the middle of planning and designing the Montour Junction Complex. 78 acres and 6+ fields being planned on a brownfield is more important and politically savvy then a field in the well-to-do Mt Lebanon.
9:17 AM, THIS ALSO HAS TO BE A CLASSIC AND EGREGIOUS EXAMPLE OF A CONFLICT OF INTEREST - THE STATE ETHICS COMMISSION SHOULD PROBABLY BE CONTACTED AS WELL AS THE STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL !
Four years of work put in by Commissioner Brumfield, a hefty investment by Franklin, grant writing for sports groups by a municipal employee, donation by a municipal hired contractor and with all this questionable help, they still don't believe they can deliver the 50% of private funding for turf.
Despite the fact that they claim thousands of residents support it.
Next thing we'll uncover is that the commissioners hired Pursuant Ketchum to do a fundraiser.
From Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants
Legitimacy is based on three things.
First of all, the people who are asked to obey authority have to feel like they have a voice--that if they speak up, they will be heard.
Second, the law has to be predictable. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as the rules today.
And third, the authority has to be fair. It can't treat one group differently from another.
9:47 don't shout at me - contact them if you believe it is an "egregious example."
Isn't it also funny that Elaine, a free "news source" is investigating and uncovering all this evidence and our major newspapers, with their staffs of reporters, lawyers, editors, advertising revenue & subscription dollars, does nothing more than quote a few politicians and transcribe a few PIO PR releases.
Its pathetic what our "free press" has devolved into.
10:14 AM, here is what is really sad. I found an exception to the Right To Know Law where the press doesn't get charged for RTKs.
PA RTK law Section 1307 (b) (ii)
(ii) Subparagraph (i) shall not apply to:
(A) a request by an individual employed by or connected with a newspaper or magazine of general circulation, weekly publication, press association or radio or television station, for the purpose of obtaining information for publication or broadcast; or
I sent this to Steve Feller, hoping to avoid the RTK fee, but I was ignored. Obviously, I am not taken seriously since I do this for free.
Elaine
Where's KDKA's political reporter Jon Delano?
8th update: Steve Feller sent a response to my three hour ordeal on Saturday with the commission.
Elaine
Interesting response from Mr. Feller.
So lets go with the things we do know from the RTKs and let our imaginations run wild from there.
1. A commissioner lied to a constituent in writing.
2. A board member made a false claim to a commissioner in writing. At least it looks that way. Franklin told Kluck 50% of the artificial turf would be pay by private funds. Did he tell Linfante, Bendel, Brumfield, Fraasch and Silverman that as well?
If he did, then why is the municipality putting in $750,000 and the sports groups only $250,000?
Then the bigger question becomes why aren't our representatives looking out for their constituents?
If someone told you I'm going to pay for half of something would you say... "oh no, that's not necessary, only pay for 25%. We'll get those other people to pony up more!" "We won't ask if it is OK [referendum], we'll just do it!"
First off, there was a comment somewhere about the State determining personal email and texts were off-limits. Um...no. Look up Mollick vs. Worcester Township.
Second, even if they cite predecisional deliberations, they need to actually state the topic about which they were deliberating. They aren't allowed to go with the "Oh, just trust us" defense.
Third, I do find it odd that with Brumfield being such a staunch advocate of the turf and having such a big mouth at the public meetings, there is virtually no email traffic with his name. Why is that?
Fourth, for a bunch of people who claim to represent such a large portion of the town, sure is odd and suspicious that Franklin and funky bunch aren't being more forthcoming with information.
Clarence, another question is if these are all such good citizens, only interested in what is best for the community... why hide anything?
If it is for us, you'd think they'd be proud to demonstrate the hoops they are jumping through to bring turf to Middle and Wildcat.
Why the secretive communications? Shouldn't they be using the municipal emails for community business?
Plus, how come I don't have my commissioner's personal email. Don't they want to read my opinion?
Well, my inquisitive friend, the short answer is that none of the players (forgive the pun) are all that bright.
I don't have any government officials' personal email address, and I'm thankful for it. It should indicate, in theory, that all government business is aboveboard. What we're seeing with this RTK is an example of dirty, sleazy politics at its finest. Three names for you: Perzel, DeWeese, Mustio. There are more to consider but those three have been in the news recently.
This entire sordid saga is the high school debacle redux--lying, obfuscating, secret meetings, tiny marginal groups claiming to speak for a majority. It's sad and disgusting. Frankly, four of the five current commissioners should resign. They will refuse, of course, because such an act would require them to set aside personal agendas and demonstrate integrity and leadership. It's shameful.
I encourage readers to reach out to media. They are the people who should be chasing this story.
I reached out to Marty Griffin. He ignored it. I would assume that means he doesn't care or he is part of the problem.
Marty Griffin? HA!! I think he lives in Mt. Lebanon - I know his brother does.
I believe that appeals for local records at made to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, not the Commonwealth Court.
http://publicsource.org/investigations/right-know-or-right-no
Shouldn't this Grant Writer be looking for Grants for the tax payers? If this PRIVATE Sports group wants to find grants let them hire someone or do it themselves.
Definitely, 12:40 AM. But this is just like the sign revenue. The field sports guys get it first. The Turf Project Task Force shouldn't be going after any grants. They were tasked to come up with a strategy for funding the initial non-municipal share. It will just be deposited into the Community Endowment Fund, and MLCE takes a percentage for their services.
Why didn't grants come up for any other project, like the golf course or Brafferton?
Actually, 12:40 AM, it really isn't a PRIVATE Sports group. This is from John Bendel's presentation:
• Form a working team led by the [Municipal] Recreation Director with representation from the School District [John Grogan], Gateway Engineering [municipal engineer], [Commission liaison John Bendel] and representatives from the Sports Advisory Board. The team will:
– Create a strategy for field use and fee structure to cover the $12,000 annual field use fee
– Develop a strategy for funding the initial non-municipal share.
I did find this where our municipal grant writer has offered her services to the TPTF. SAB January 9, 2014 meeting minutes MLCE will establish an account called "Turf Project Fund." How convenient. If the group cannot raise the required $250,000 or 25% or 50%, depending on what you read, it can be used on later turf projects such as THE ROCK PILE.
Elaine
Remember this-
"Mr. Brumfield, who introduced the ordinance, said each sign could bring in between $1,000 to $5,000 each year, depending on its size. The money collected from advertisers, for example, could help the municipality improve drainage -- a major concern for residents -- at a field every year, he added. "
http://www.post-gazette.com/neighborhoods-south/2012/05/10/Advertisements-coming-to-school-municipal-fields-in-Mt-Lebanon/stories/201205100327
No municipal fixes for drainage problems that are a major concern for residents, eh Dave?
Bird, Brafferton, Mellon won't see any improvements because all the sign revenue will go into turfing Wildcat/Middle as "non-municipal" funds.
How come Commish you didn't tell people the sign revenue was going into the Community Endowment Fund?
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