The municipality has been weighing whether to build more athletic fields or improve some existing ones with new drainage or artificial turf, and the YSA is working on some proposals of its own, said commission President Dave Brumfield. Meanwhile, the agreement is being renegotiated to reflect that teams have two fewer fields to use because of construction at the high school.The YSA was supposed to come up with a plan at the end of April as announced at the April 19 "Town Hall Meeting." Then they were supposed to come up with a plan at the end of May. Do you think they will come up with their infamous plan on Monday evening at 6:30?
The whole Joint Maintenance Agreement is a farce. We have a sports association which doesn't seem to have a very good track record. The School District, from what I heard last night, can't trim the weeds and eliminate the poison ivy that is taking over the steps at Jefferson. And we have Jan Klein/Board bartering with our tax dollars.
25 comments:
How does the Superintendent or Ms. Klein have the authority to just waive off YSA agreed payments?
According to this in the Trib article we're seeing steps in the right direction.
""We get a check from the school district; we don't get a check from the school district and the YSA," he said. "You're talking about volunteer organizations without financial backing. You have to understand that if they break their contract, it's not like you can sue them."
Brumfield said he'd prefer to see the agreement restructured to hold individual sports groups accountable if they don't make their share of the YSA's payments."
It should be interesting to see how Mr. B will propose holding these groups "you can't sue accountable."
It also makes the sports group's guarantee promises of raising money for McNeilly Fields or indoor athletic buildings empty shells.
I wonder if any of this would have come to light if it weren't for Ms. Gillen's diligence in shining a light. Too bad the voters rejected her run as commissioner.
" Then-school Superintendent George Wilson dismissed the amount owed in 2008 because of the group's insufficient funds; and the organization paid the $20,000 balance for 2010 last year." - Tribune Review
Does a school district superintendent have the right to just dismiss a financial agreement? Shouldn't this be approved by the school board?
Shouldn't it have appeared in a monthly Treasurer's Report to the Board??????????
Gffn Gd
"But district Finance Manager Jan Klein said the forms don't reflect that YSA members did $4,000 worth of work in 2005 to the fields."
Really?
Hey, Jan I worked on bulletin boards for my kids classes, worked PTA events and fund raisers for various clubs and teams. It totals up to quite a bit of money- do I get to deduct it from my tax payments? Do I have to show receipts or is it enough to just claim I did?
A Resident
Anon 12:09 PM I vowed that I would try again in four years, but I have had a change of heart. I can be a watchdog for both govt. entities, with help from the readers of this blog. If I had won, Lebo Citizens blog would have had to go away. Little did the Republican Committee realize at the time, but by winning the election, that would have shut me up!
Elaine
I'm glad the Trib covered the subject, to a degree at least. I had only 5 minutes to present a very complex issue and message to the Commission, and gave them YSA IRS tax returns for years 2008 & 2010, with highlighted line items to make my case. Have you ever thought of explaining 2-years of your IRS Form 1040's to an audience in a span of only 5-minutes ?
The Trib reporter, Matt Santoni, never contacted me, asked me any questions, asked me for my documents; but, I will guarantee you he spent far more time than that researching and interviewing those whom he quoted in his article.
Let me point out a few very relevant facts he missed in his article that I could have and would have pointed out to him had he sought me out after the Commission meeting :
1) the 2008 YSA tax return, filed with the IRS in May 2009, stated the YSA had paid the District $3,597, and only $3,597, towards the $30,000 required under the Agreement. Jan Klein had stated in public prior to the Commission meeting that the District never received the money. She is now quoted in the article as saying the former Superintendent, George Wilson, "dismissed" the entire $30,000 because the YSA had "insufficient funds" ?
Consider the following - (a) the YSA filed erroneous data in their return that they had paid $3,597 to the District (Part III, Line28), apparently knowingly; (b) the YSA 2008 tax return shows they had excess revenues of $14,419 (Part I, Line 18) and net assets (cash) of $29,562 (Part II, Line 27) at year-end 2008, and obviously could have paid some or most of the "legally bound" payment due; and, (c) the Superintendent made an inappropriate and possibly illegal "dismissal" of the "legally bound" payment apparently without Board approval, and used $30,000 in unbudgeted and unauthorized taxpayer dollars in paying the $83,300 to the Muni. ;
2) the YSA paid the 2010 unpaid balance of $20,000 in 2011 ? When in 2011 did they do that, Matt ? The YSA, after paying the $10,000 during 2010, had begun 2010 with cash of $39,765 and ended the year with $31,918 Matt (Part II, Lines 22 and 27)! They could have paid the entire "legally bound" in 2010 but chose not to, perhaps only when someone called them on it in 2011. They seem to like to play the game *catch me if you can* - will they be demanding a new turfed field for that sport as well ?
3) Matt, did you ever take a look at the actual Joint Maintenance Agreement ? The terms of "legally bound" payments for and by the YSA to the District are "$10,000 in January of each year" and the balance of $20,000 "by July 15 of each year". Not year-end, the next year or never !
4) the article states that the unpaid balance of the 2011 payment due of $20,000 will be paid "soon" in 2012. Really ? It's Junhe already ! And did the District receive its 2012 payment of $10,000 that was due in January of this year as well under the current Agreement that does not expire until June 30, 2012 ? It will not be dependent upon a new or extended Agreement !
I'll stop here. I think I've made my points. There's more, but I'll defer for the time being. If you're going to interview people and research subjects, start with the messenger, or check back with the messenger.
The YSA act like a bunch of deadbeats and freeloaders based on their performance under contractural Agreements and their demands in public meetings and actions behind the scenes.
The Muni should have no further dealings with them.
Bill Lewis
Hey Matt "I'm working hard in our state Capitol and at home to make government work for you and our community." Smith, you reading this?
Are you just blowing smoke up our _ _ _, or are you working hard to make government work for us and the community? You have the pull and the connections to get to the bottom of these shenanigans.
A Constituent
This is pure speculation but may we have stumbled onto the reason for Dr. Sable's $550,000 buyout?
Mr. Lewis's tax documents only go back to 2005. The JMA goes back to 2002.
Could Marge have discovered that YSA was never upholding their side of the agreement and Jan was covering the $30,000 out of district accounts with no board authorization?
I mean Superintendent Wilson was her immediate successor and dismissed the YSA obligation without board approval. Hmmmm - curious - very, very curious!
"If they break their contract, it's not like you can sue them"...Actually, you can, Dave. maybe you should bone up on that whole law thing before speaking in public again.
Second, I don't want SMith or any other government wonk "working" or "fighting" for me. All government does is get in the way or, in the case of Mt. Lebanon, use voter apathy and ignorance to build little empires. It's pathetic and dirty but that's how it goes.
hopefully Santomni will start doing what journalists used to do--digging for the truth.
The Pennsylvania Open Meetings/Open Records Act, also known as the Sunshine Law, says this on page 21:
"The Right to Know Law defines “public record” to include any account, voucher or contract dealing with the
receipt or disbursement of funds, or the acquisition, use or disposal of services or supplies, and any minute,
order or decision affecting the personal or property rights, duties or obligations of any person or group. A
sizable portion of the litigation under the Right to Know Law involves financial records.
It goes on to say: The purpose of the Right to Know Law is to allow citizens to scrutinize the acts of public officials and
to make officials accountable in their use of public funds. The court said that if public money is spent, the
public has a right to know where it goes."
The Sunshine Law has been in effect since 1975. It's time for ML to get with it. All expenditures of public money must be approved by elected officials.
Maddie Miller
Marge Sable said "there's going to be a huge mess to clean up when Jan Klein retires."
Mr. Saffer, like it not our elected officials take an oath to uphold the laws of the Commonwealth.
That is one reason we sent 'Mr. Smith to Harrisburg' for.
Since there has been a suggestion of malfeasance by the district superintendent it is Mr. Smith's duty to see that it gets investigated by the proper authorities.
School districts are not covered under Home Rul but rather by the PA Dept. of Education.
Unless of course, our state representative doesn't really mean that he is working for the community.
As for Matt Santori and the Trib. Guess they're just superficial reporters of the news and missed the prime obligations of a free press, who's role is to act as watchdogs. If Mr. Snatori was doing his job he'd investigate and not just act as a recorder of words.
Maddie,
Get with it – you need to understand how things are done around here. (wink wink)
Since I couldn’t get an answer from Josephine Posti after she made public promises to reveal the donor for the P/K feasibility study within her stated timeframe, out of frustration I filed my first RTK request hoping that I could get an answer.
Maybe this will bring you up to speed:
Dr. Steinhauer sent an e-mail to the Board Email list on 2/24/2012 with the Subject: Invitation stating “Dear Board – Larry, Dale and I are having an informal breakfast conversation with Elliott Oshry (Pursuant/Ketchum) on Wednesday, February 29th at 7:50 a.m. at Panera in the Galleria. If there is anyone else who is interested in stopping by I would welcome your attendance. In order to not have a quorum, there cannot be more than 4 Board members. If anyone else is interested please give me a call.”
Also, Jackie Foor of the MLFE was on also “on board” with the way things are really done as she states in her e-mail discussing meeting with the board and dated 2/24/2012 at 01:13:20 PM to Larry “I would be happy to invite the whole Board. We talked about doing that but were concerned that it could be a problem for you under the Sunshine Law, so before I send out an invite to all board members, I just want to check with you first to make sure that we aren’t going cause any problems for anyone.”
Well, what do you know; we just happened to enter into a contract dealing with the disbursement of funds to P/K. Taxpayers be damned!
-Charlotte Stephenson
On May 15, I emailed both Matt Santoni and Molly Born about the YSA because I thought it was newsworthy. I never got a response from Matt, but I did hear back from Molly.
She wrote, "Thanks for letting me know, Elaine. I have three school budget meetings and two other stories on my plate for this week, but I will look into this."
I can't make it any easier for the media or our elected officials. Podcasts, links to documents, digging to get to the truth, giving them the heads up on stories, geeze!
Elaine
Dr. Steinhauer said: " In order to not have a quorum, there cannot be more than 4 Board members." (to circumvent PA Sunshine Laws)
Yeah Mt. Lebanon focus on anonymous posters here on Elaine's blog. They've got their hands in your pocket looking for your wallet.
Gffn Gd
So, who cares to speculate as to what Jackie Foor means when she says:
"I just want to check with you first to make sure that we aren’t going cause any problems for anyone.”
What "problems" occur when the Sunshine Law is invoked and taxpayers are privy to the goings on of our governmental process? Go ahead an call me "Mrs. Obvious", but how can they be so cavalier? I didn't realize how important it is to these elected representatives of our district and their appointees to circumvent the Sunshine Law. I thought it was simply in place to facilitate open government, and not meant to be a "problem" at all!
-Charlotte Stephenson
Charlotte,
I would love to turn your RTK about the PK study into a separate post. If you want to send me a letter with the information you received, I could upload the RTK and link it to your article. I can't wait to read what you learned from that. The SB has been so secretive.
Matt Santoni, thanks for covering this. I am sure more will come out at Monday's special meeting. Maybe we will get to hear their great plan or maybe the Municipality will give YSA their walking papers.That would be my vote. The muni should go directly to the groups themselves, as Bill Lewis recommended. I don't think football even pays into the YSA and they, from what I understand, are the hardest on the fields.
Elaine
I found a couple of articles about what YSA was like in the beginning. This Feb. 21, 2001 article talks about a forum which YSA sponsored about sportsmanship. Coaches, parents to hear how to put sportsmanship in youth programs Is President Bowman related to Cissy Bowman?
In this 2006 article, YSA continued to raise awareness for the Positive Coaching Alliance.
Good coaches not only win, they nurture
I wonder what happened to this. Now we just think of YSA being bullies making demands and empty promises.
Elaine
I see that the School Board will be discussing the Joint Maintenance Agreement at Monday's meeting. Here is the agenda.
Elaine
Elaine,
Your 9:25 post has really irritated me. You have lumped everyone together with a problematic few. Most coaches really do care about doing the right things for the right reasons. The YSA is the YSA, but not all coaches are the YSA.
Please,refrain from making these generalities, as they really spin things towards a narrow point of view.
Thanks
Chuck, I am confused by your comment. Does YSA still offer these seminars? If you read the articles, they paid quite a bit of money to sponsor the forums. What does the YSA do for coaches today? Do they hold any seminars for kids? Are they still involved with the Positive Coaching Alliance? It seemed like a wonderful program.
Elaine
Elaine,
There are clinics held for certain sports. These are geared towards incorporating new coaches and as refresher for the seasoned ones. In addition to coaching seminars, there can be sport-specific fe-based skill clinics for the players. These are usually considered as fund-raisers.
My point was to make sure that we all understand the difference between volunteer coaching and political activity. The vast majority of our community coaches fall into the first category, although some coaches/administrators do fall into both. Additionally, most of the coaches that I know personally are in it for the right reasons. These include skill development, promoting a sense of team and sportsmanship. Winning is nice, but not at the expense of the important things.
Thanks for getting back to me, Chuck. What I was trying to get to is, has YSA's role in youth sports diminished? Are they as effective as they once were? There is a distinction between YSA and the youth sports organizations. YSA represents sports groups, but not every sport is in YSA. Is that correct, Chuck? Dave Franklin tried to pressure me into promoting his two blogs. The one is no longer online. The other one, Lebo Fields was promoted by Blog-Lebo, and it has pretty much become inactive. All I hear from YSA is that we need artificial turf and more fields. His wife is head of YSA now. Aren't there non-field groups that are paying to YSA? What is YSA doing for these groups? Have they outlived their usefulness? Are they sponsoring these coach or player seminars? Or have the individual groups had to step up to the plate? I hope people understand the distinction between YSA and the individual sports groups. Is YSA representing all the sports or only the field sports? I was not being critical of coaches or sportsmanship, just questioning YSA's focus and involement in the present day.
Elaine
*involvement
Elaine
Elaine,
Beyond paying the YSA monies that are part of the registration fees, I have no other involvement. I see no tangible value other than the fees being turned over for the facilities maintenance. Perhaps the YSA is more involved in other sports in which I do not participate. At this point, I am not even sure which sports are part of the YSA, as it is like doing the hokey-pokey. From my vantage point, each sport is self-contained and therefore is not in need of the YSA beyond collecting and disbursing the JMA monies. Why not turn this over to one of the existing parks and recreation committees that already exist?
Good point! Thanks for the feedback, Chuck. I too, would like to know which sports are part of YSA. I believe the YSA has outlived its usefulness or at least needs a major overhaul and needs to represent its members fairly. The Dave's only like to talk about artificial turf. I am sure that will be part of Monday's discussion.
Elaine
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