Friday, September 28, 2012

Wait, Is it Morgan or Stadium?

I am getting confused. Change order #GC-03-03 is to Nello Construction for repair of Morgan Drive as required by the Municipality totals $63,148.

In my post of September 17, 2012, Not $30 Million...Not $15 million... where I wrote:
On another note, Peterson has instructed the Board to litigate $63,148 (cost of repaving Morgan Drive) with the Municipality after the project is completed.
I sent this email to Steve Feller on September 18, 2012.
At last night's School Board meeting, a change order was approved for the work done on Morgan Drive. Their solicitor advised the School Board to litigate the amount of $63,148 because they believe it is the fault of the Municipality and Gateway.  Have you responded either verbally or in writing to the District's claim?
Elaine
I promptly received this scorcher from my commissioner.
Ms. Gillen,

I have spoken with numerous officials at the SD today about this rumor, and NONE of them told me that the SD plans to sue the
municipality. Mr. Remely, when discussing the change order, asked
their solicitor how they, if they were to choose to do so, would go
about seeking funds from someone other than the SD to pay for the
re-paved road. The solicitor did not "advise litigation" as you
suggest. He did tell them that such a process was an option. The
change order vote passed, and it was decided that the SD would speak with the other parties (architect, contractor, Muni., etc) to discuss the issue further.

In addition, Mr. Feller and Dr. Steinhauer are in contact often, as
affirmed by Mr. Feller today. At this time, there is no reason to
respond to a false rumor or misinterpretation. Talks are ingoing
bewteen our staffs, as always.

I hope this clarifies any confusion you may have had about the SD's discussion.

Kristen Linfante
Commissioner, Ward 3

A follow up comment on the blog on September 18 at 3:38 PM was approved:
Let's be clear here...anyone can go back to the podcast and make no mistake that both Dan and JoPo were throwing the municipal engineer under the bus.

The idea that now Kristen comes back and says there will be no lawsuit is a little early in the process I think. No doubt the school district will keep all options on the table until this is resolved.

I wonder if the municipality responded to the school board meeting from last week or not. I am sure they heard the comments from Dan and Jo. And I am also sure that if I was them, I would not appreciate one of my employees being thrown to the wolves for doing his job just so the board could blame someone else for its change order.

Here is what was received from Steve Feller when asked for a municipal response. It was obtained through a Right To Know.

Communication from Municipal Engineer RTK Rus Del Ra, the contractor contact seemed a little cranky over Horsman and Stadium Drives.

Either all the information was not granted in the Right To Know Request, there was no response over the school board meeting when Gateway was thrown under the bus, or the change order was listed for the wrong road.  Does anyone out there know anything differently? Kristen, I don't need to get another scorcher from you.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why is your commissioner answering the manager's email? Did you ever receive a response from Steve Feller? How was your RTK worded?

Lebo Citizens said...

No, I never heard back from Steve. The RTK did not come from me, but it was worded this way:
"All communication between the municipal engineer and the Mt. Lebanon School District, School District vendors and contractors regarding the high school renovation project since 19-JUNE-2012, email PDF scan."
Oh there it is! Nothing asked about the municipal manager or the commissioners! Hey, thanks!
Elaine

Anonymous said...

Perhaps it was not sent directly from the engineer to the board.

It would be more likely that the engineer would submit something to his boss who would then forward it on to the district under his name. This format would mark it as officially being from the municipality.

Lebo Citizens said...

I guess you have to be a lawyer to ask it the right way. I just submitted this as a RTK:
All communication between Gateway Engineers, the Municipal Manager, Commissioners, Staff, MTLSD, Contractors, or Vendors regarding street repairs on or off School District property from June 19, 2012 to today September 28, 2012 due to High School Renovation project. I see that I failed to specifically mention the school board directors. Grrr.
Elaine

Anonymous said...

Elaine, did you email the Superintendent?

Lebo Citizens said...

You mean the man who told us that YSA was completely paid up when they weren't? And wasn't sure if we had five or seven elementary schools? Oh yeah, that is a good idea.
Elaine