Steve Feller granted my request in a timely manner. Thank you, Steve. Here is the email with the documents that were attached.
Ms. Gillen:
I received your February 2, 2015 right to know request for "all invoices submitted by Merlin Benner/Wildlife Specialists LLC for services rendered to date." There are two documents that are responsive to this request and they are attached.
Steve Feller
Municipal Manager
32 comments:
That's a pretty good gig.
Make $12,000 helping to create options that you know you can provide and make another $75,000.
Yep, no conflict there!
What a colossal waste of taxpayer money. I will remember this and the other similar expenditures come voting time. The Commission has no respect for taxpayers or their increasingly scarce funds. We need state oversight ASAP. Mark my words: MTL is headed for municipal bankruptcy within the next 3 years.
Ohhh great - he was paid an enormous no-bid consulting fee, no questions asked, for development of a recommended option no one could could match because it involved an unproven, untried, non certified technique for deer (i.e. corral for hog butchering), prepared an RFP Lebo advertised for that option, was the only bidder because no one could meet the requirement (nor could Benner) of successful experience with the method for deer, was awarded the contract - and that meets the "smell test" and ethics of Mt. Lebanon ?
They should all be investigated by county, Commomwealth and/or federal agencies for a multitude of likely criminal actions.
An honest government is priceless.
A dishonest government is costly.
For those who are having difficulty reading the invoices, here is a breakdown.
Invoice date: October 17, 2014
Billable dates: September 5, 2014 - October 5, 2014
Service: Options Evaluation Deer Management
Emailed and billed to Tom Kelley, Public Works
$4,000
Approved by Public Works, 10/2/14
Invoice date: November 13, 2014
Billable dates: October 6, 2014 - November 16, 2014
Service: Options Evaluation Deer Management
Emailed and billed to Tom Kelley, Public Works
$8,000
Approved by Public Works, 11/18/14
Elaine
How's this for an idea?
Since the police seem to be in favor of this corralling it is highly unlikely we can depend on them to monitor it closely so we must become proactive.
Today's video cams (Sony's have night shot) and many digital cameras have very excellent low light capabilities that will allow us to capture the corral & kills.
Let's start a watchers network. If you see a gated corral with deer in it you alert a volunteer w/camera the shootings about to begin.
We get it on film and put it up so we can judge if this farce is really humane.
Supposedly, the corrals will won't be screened except in daylight by Benner's crews so we should be able to get some excellent footage. (More misinformation Ms. PIO? That's what Benners bid documents seem to reveal)
If they set up a corral in Iraquois Park for instance you can cover most of the park at a safe distance from the Galleria upper level parking lot.
The other thing this will do is set up a neighborhood crime watch. How will we know if the guys in our parks are part of Benner's crew or some poachers looking for some easy venison?
Anybody in?
A good defense, is a good offense. Let's go on the offensive to stop this ludicrous plan.
Besides coming to Mt. Lebanon a few times and sitting down with the commissioners during the discussion sessions for a few hours, what else did Mr. Benner do to deserve such a huge amount of taxpayer money?
Nick M.
Nick,
I believe Benner helped the commissioners come up with the deer management plan. He helped write the Request for Proposal (RFP). Benner submitted the only proposal. Benner was awarded the contract.
See 10:33 AM's comment.
Elaine
Gee if this stupid deer plan gets rejected by the Game Commission, will the next Benner bill be for $16,000 for "Service: Options Evaluations Deer Management?"
Wait a minute, something doesn't mess!
On November 24,2014 we read:
"
Mt. Lebanon is applying to the Game Commission for a broader archery program and the use of “trap-and-bolt” methods that can take place on public or private land with the homeowner's consent. With trapping, deer are lured into a corral with bait, shut in with an automatic gate, then killed with a captive-bolt gun to their heads similar to those used in slaughterhouses.
The commission will then submit a second application for using surgical sterilization to control the deer population, though Benner's report noted that Pennsylvania has never approved it before.
Read more: Mt. Lebanon approves archery, trapping to cull deer population
http://www.wpxi.com/news/news/local/mt-lebanon-council-votes-how-deal-growing-deer-pop/njFZ7/"
Then we read:
"Mt. Lebanon cancels deer archery cull"
Posted: 12/22/2014, 12:43am | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://pittsburgh.suntimes.com/pit-news/7/114/53069/mt-lebanon-cancels-deer-archery-cull/"
But Benner's invoices for "Options Evaluations Deer Management" for $4,000 on 10/17/14
and
"Options Evaluations Deer Management" on 1/13/14 are all before the Archery cull was cancelled.
So, what Benner do... give us just a couple of options in October? Then give us some more options in November.
Which we apparently picked an Archery Cull as the best option on November 24th based on Benner's $12,000 advice.
So will we be seeing another Benner invoice for "Options Evaluation Deer Management" since the archery option fell apart on 12/22/14?
I dunno, call me crazy, but when I hire consultants to give me options, I expect them to provide me with all the available options on the first go round.
Getting a second bill for option evaluations seems to be a little redundant, don't you think?
Two corrections.
" something doesn't mess!" mesh not mess
&
""Options Evaluations Deer Management" on 1/13/14 are all before the Archery cull was cancelled." 11/13/14 not 1/13/14
Steve Feller confirmed that there are trail cameras up.
"Yes, the contractor has put up cameras at some of the park sites. They are being used to confirm that the locations are appropriate (i.e. there are deer.) We do not yet have a permit from the Game Commission. Once there is a permit, we will notify the neighbors and put the appropriate notice on the web site. The contractor will start baiting after a permit is issued. We will be discussing the potential locations with the Commission at Tuesday night's discussion session."
Elaine
So our kind commissioners and municipality government employees permitted Benner to place cameras in undisclosed places within our public parks.
First,does this not violate the privacy of park users, especially given the fact that the locations of these cameras are not known. Can I now put up cameras wherever I want in Mt Lebanon?
Second, this is entirely unethical with respect to the deer. They are using technology to stalk the deer so they can slaughter them efficiently. All hunters should be opposed to this as it violates the ethics of fair chase.
"The mechanized pursuit of wildlife is high on the list of violating fair-chase principles," Jim Posewitz wrote in his book, "Beyond Fair Chase." "If we are to pursue animals fairly, the ethical choice is clear — we pursue them on foot. The ethical hunter never chases (videotapes) or harasses wildlife with a machine."
The agendas for Tuesday's meetings have been posted on the municipal website here: http://mtlebanon.org/index.aspx?nid=63
Direct link to the Discussion Session is here.
Direct link to the Commission Meeting is here.
Elaine
These deer must be a REAL nuisance if the municipality needs to put up wildlife cameras in parks to FIND them.
!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I thought that too, especially since there are "hundreds," if not "thousands" of deer in Mt. Lebanon.
I looked up the term "canned hunt" and now I understand what people are saying on the petition. Yes, it is a canned hunt. Ugh! This is horrible!
Elaine
Couldn't they have just called Linfante's expert?
Didn't she claim he knows there are 100 deer in every square mile of Mt. Lebanon?
Pick any square mile and you have 2/3s of the corral & kill's goal.
Just wanted to jump in and say that I think the "watchers network" is an excellent idea. It would take a bit of coordination but it's been done before for similar cull-type operations. If the determination is there it can happen. This whole awful cull plan needs to be called off before it even gets to that point but if this goes through, there needs to be advance planning and thinking about how video can be captured, because that's going to be a horrible, shameful embarrassment for the commission and everyone else involved.
Thanks Elaine for all you are doing!
I just signed both of Ashley's petitions!:
Please Save the Deer
And:
Don't Cull the Deer
Thanks Again.
Sincerely,
-Carrie
csteel412@gmail.com
Once the corrals go up capturing a video of the kills should be rather easy.
Then posting here and youtube will be all that's needed to tell everyone what kind of counity Mt. Lebanon is.
I know this thread is about the boatload of taxpayer cash Benner is taking in but I have a question:
Let's just say that the following occurs simultaneously:
USC
Bridgeville
Mt Lebanon
These three communities decide to let loose with their deer rage and all three communities cull every deer they can find at night until the end of March.
Who is counting how many deer are killed?
Yes, Virginia, this could happen and I think it is.
http://www.bridgevilleboro.com/DOC031.pdf
They are killing deer all over Western PA with suppressed rifles... including USC and Bridgeville. There is a photo of someone's backyard doe that has been shot and left there. This is recent like yesterday from the thread.
http://forum.pafoa.org/hunting-23/276058-they-shooting-my-backyard-deer-suppressed-rifles.html
Is the camera footage subject to RTK? Does anyone know?
It's obvious to me that one or more commissioners, (excluding Kelly), met Benner in private, to develop a deer trapping euthanize plan and legal contract in advance. Then it was voted upon to "supposedly" hire an expert to develop a plan. The payment of $12,000 for the expert's services, was actually a bribe, which was paid under the guise of " hiring an expert." The contract was written to favor the expert. When the contract went out to bid, there was only 1 bid submitted, by the hired expert. Other contractors were (a) excluded from bidding, and (b) knew the bid stunk
beyond words and wanted nothing to do with this! Upon signing the contract, the expert changed his mind about the money in the contract, which said commissioners then verbally agreed to change the the amount awarded in the original contract. I believe there are state and federal laws against bid rigging. And
since the original contract was changed, then it would appear there is a " breach" in the contract. Any unbiased attorneys out there care to comment?
I'm not sure that's a bribe. There's an imbalance of power with bribe. You might be onto something but I don't think it's bribery. Since I have experienced bribery, I can tell you it feels really crappy and I don't think the muni or Benner are feeling too low.
3:18 pm Was the bid advertised in the paper? Who was it sent to as advised by the PGC? Has anyone contacted those companies to see why they didn't bid or for further comment? I don't think it's OK to pick/choose contractors based on the advice of the PGC.
This is a good topic to circle back to while the inhumane, ineffective and ridiculous aspects of the cruel deer culling experiment are hashed out.
Why does the PA Game Commission recommend deer culling providers for bidding purposes? Did they actually provide a list of potential bidders? How is this fair business practice? What are the connections between this state agency and private businesses?
Or was there a collusion for bid suppression?
"Bid suppression occurs where some of the conspirators agree not to submit a bid so that another conspirator can win the contract."
Sketchy is as sketchy does.
5:34, in addition to knowing if the program was advertised in the paper, I would also ask if this process was rushed.
From what I see, the RFP was created on January 14th by Tom Kelley, Mr. Benner had a reply to the RFP by January 19th and the recommendation was put into the agenda on January 23rd. It would appear that Mr. Benner had an advantage and this process was rushed to award him the contract and keep others away.
Nick M.
Maybe it's Benner who decided he wanted the contract, and then told a / some commissioners, if you I hire me as your expert, then I will tell you how to write the plan and contract to my specifications. He would be the only one to be able to bid on the contract! It still doesn't pass the smell test and it realllly stinks!
Does the fact that Mt. Lebanon already had a $12,000 investment with Mr. Benner and his LLC mean anything? Could there have been an incentive to sway the contract towards him because if this investment?
Nick M.
Once again, what proof will we have of an actual kill?
It's taking place under the cover od darkness and the bodies will go directly to the butcher, so what check will be in place?
Will we take Benner's word?
How will we know if they killed anything? Will we ask for ears or pelt?
Then how do we know the deer was taken in Lebo?
It's not like we can say-- yesterday there were 400 deer and Benner said he killed 3 overnight and today we counted 397.
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