It is finally time for me to enter the rarified air of the blogosphere. I would like to start with answering a few questions related to the $800,000+ ticket issue and who may or may not be responsible.
- Didn’t anyone else know about the problem of unpaid tickets? – Most Authority employees knew there was little effort in collecting unpaid fines, but they had little recourse. Since their supervisor and Board members were the problem, and there was fear of reprisal, you get the picture.
- Payments made by cash in the ticket envelope and dropped in the fine box may not have been marked as paid. – I am unaware of any tickets not processed properly. The clerical staff responsible for entering and processing these payments, were capable and honest individuals.
- Mr. Brumfield was a former Parking Authority Board member. – Commissioner Brumfield together with the other four Commissioners took over in the final days of the Authority when the Parking Authority Board was dissolved. During this short period of time, the Commissioners did not have much time to look into the former Authority’s problems. Commissioners Brumfield, Kluck, and former Commissioner Miller should be applauded for their efforts in the consolidation.
- Were the problem individuals retained by the Municipality? – The Board, Solicitor, and Executive Director were not retained.
- Try Multi-tasking and looking down the road. Instead of always looking back to blame people, how about looking forward and figuring out how to PREVENT it from happening again. – Excellent suggestion and I believe this is already under way with the Municipality creating an ad-hoc board to provide advice on the future of parking needs in Mt. Lebanon. As far as looking back, how else can we learn from our mistakes if we don’t investigate?
If anyone thinks that unpaid parking tickets are the only issue, they are sadly mistaken. Here are just a few of the other negligent acts of the former Authority.
- Lease at 794 Washington Road – Over $25,000 lost in rental revenue, together with payments for utilities. When the Municipality vacated the old Tax Office at 794 Washington Road at the end of November, 2004, The Authority had many months of advance notice. Unfortunately, the Authority failed to successfully negotiate a new lease with the remaining occupant (SHACOG) for nearly two additional years.
- Lease at North Garage office space (Pepperberry’s) – Lost over $20,000 in lease revenue due to procrastination over negotiations. LaPomponnee’s finally came to the rescue and offered to lease the additional space.
- 424 Washington Road rent – The Authority failed to pursue over $11,000 in rent and utility charges by a real estate developer. This debt is still outstanding today.
- Academy Avenue Lot – Significant cost overruns from the original estimates (I believe in the area of $800,000) in excess of budget for acquisition of properties and construction of the Academy Ave. lot.
- Meter rate increase – Rates were increased in 2001, then rescinded in 2003, and reinstated in 2006. Unfortunately, the new rates were not charged until starting in 2010, and continuing through 2011. For each year the new rates were not charged, an estimated $100,000 was lost annually. This would equate to approximately $700,000 total meter revenue lost.
The way I see it, the unpaid parking tickets are just the tip of the iceberg. As I said above, these are just a few examples of the past negligent acts. We need to investigate now, and get the answers so this never happens again.
I made an attempt in 2006 to inform the entire Parking Authority Board of the various negligent acts by letter, but I received no response. I had also requested over the past two years at Commission meetings, that the Commissioners get a copy of the booting/scofflaw list. This list with the $800,000+ in unpaid fines was unfortunately not made available to Municipal officials until after the consolidation of the Parking Authority.
Dave Egler
