Coup de grace UPDATED

I am so discouraged with the system. Things are so unfair here in Mt. Lebanon.

• The PA Office of Open Records ruled in my favor. No land was donated to kill deer. Property owners only granted access for deer to be killed. Mt. Lebanon appealed and won. Twice. PA Supreme Court would not hear it.

• A local magistrate threw the book at a visitor from Boston when she came across a hunter who had just killed deer in an area which had no warning signs posted. When the case was appealed in Common Pleas Court, the judge called the case, "A tempest in a teapot."

• A school board director had to resign from office because her son was interviewing for a teaching position and ultimately got the job. The job posting was altered nine months after he was hired. She ran again and is back on the school board. Yep, no conflict there. It also helped that she made a sizable donation to the capital campaign. Covering all her bases, she pushed for an early contract amendment for the Superintendent, that resulted in a pecuniary gain of roughly $50,000 over three years. I filed a complaint with the PA Ethics Commission, but they dismissed it.

• A man is out until 4 AM and gets cited for public drunkenness and similar misconduct, runs for commissioner, beats out a fire fighter, has his hearing delayed to two days after the election, and then gets his case dismissed. He also had other cases dismissed by his next door neighbor, the magistrate. (See above.)

And the final blow?

A year ago, I filed a complaint with the PA Ethics Commission against Mary D. Birks. I felt that it was a conflict of interest with Mary D. Birks serving as president of the Mt. Lebanon School Board while being the executive director of Outreach Teen and Family Services. She represented Outreach and the School District and never recused herself from any votes whenever the District contracted with Outreach. Mary Birks used her position to speak with PTA. She had a close relationship with the magistrate (see above) who referred defendants to Outreach. He also officiated at her daughter's wedding in Lake Tahoe.

Complaints filed with PA Ethics Commission against Birks and Cappucci

The PA Ethics Commission recently issued an order concerning my complaint. Finding: "De minimis economic impact." I haven't gotten a copy of the final order, but Mary Birks spoke at the school board meeting tonight and talked about the complaint.

Personally, I will never forgive that woman. After how she treated Nick Meduho at the October 17, 2017 school board meeting, Nick was really upset. His sister told me that she had seen him the next day and knew something was bothering him, but Nick didn't say anything to his sister. It wasn't until after he died, did Nick's family have any idea as to what was going on. With a heavy heart Nick was asking about the capital campaign.  Watching that segment of the video, Nick was trying to find out about taxpayer money being paid back to the general fund. Based on Mary's terse response, the money in the general fund is there to be used by the District. It has been out of the general fund for five years. Kiss that $910,930.02 goodbye.

There is no justice in this world. However, Mary did admit guilt. I know that the Democratic and Republican Committees want nothing to do with her. She lost the election big time. Mark Hart had gotten in trouble for not filing Statement of Financial Interests. Because he won the presidency over Josephine Posti, a scathing report was in the Posti Gazette. Former Mt. Lebanon school director cited in audit In this case, Mary Birks admitted to voting on Outreach contracts while on the school board. She admitted guilt. Let's see how this is covered up by the media since she is best buds with Josephine Posti.You won't hear much from the Posti Gazette. It was certainly downplayed by anonymous commenters in my post from June 20, 2017. Yesssss!

Update May 15, 2018 1:24 PM To hear Mary Birks' rant, go to the timestamp 01:59:05 of the May 14, 2018 school board meeting. She doesn't get it. Her behavior over the years, caused her to lose the election. Back when I attended school board meetings, Mary would make snide remarks during my comments. She would roll her eyes when residents would speak. Her attitude as school board president, particularly to anyone who questioned her, was dreadful. To put it simply, she was a bitch. She was power hungry and it went to her head. She didn't lose the election because of my complaint or because of any board member. She lost it all on her own.

Called it.

By Lian Bunny and Stacey Federoff  –  Pittsburgh Business Times

Feb 23, 2018, 4:58pm EST Updated Feb 23, 2018, 6:21pm

The City of Pittsburgh appealed today the Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records decision that ordered the city to release its Amazon HQ2 bid to the public, according to a statement released by the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

The city had until today to reveal the details or appeal the decision to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

If Pittsburgh is anything like Mt. Lebanon, they will laugh in the face of the PA Office of Open Records

Steinhauer's Affidavit | Job Posting Modification

On May 24, 2017, I filed an appeal with the PA Office of Open Records concerning a Right To Know that I submitted to the School District. Mt. Lebanon submitted a position statement, which included a request to deny my appeal, as well as affidavits from Dr. Timothy Steinhauer and the administrative assistant from the department of Human Resources.

Notice who notarized the affidavits. Jeanine Szalinski is the school district's Open Records Officer (ORO) as well as the superintendent's administrative assistant.

The OOR has until July 24, 2017 to make its Final Determination.

Not what I asked for. UPDATED 3 TIMES

On May 15, 2017, I filed a Right To Know seeking "All records, including but not limited to emails, texts, and interoffice memos related to modifying the job posting dates for Middle School Social Studies Teacher - 8th Grade US History - Contract 2016-2017 JobID:471. Dates modified include: Date Posted & Closing Date."

Here is what I got.

Response Letter They located a copy of the job posting as it currently exists. No kidding!

The records sent (redacted, yet free of charge. How about that, Keith McGill and Bonnie Cross?!!)

The cover letter from MTLSD  - check out all the people who were cc'ed!

And finally, my response to the MTLSD ORO. I enclosed the original and modified job postings.

Timmy is not giving up the information!

Update May 22, 2017 6:12 PM If you read the fine print at the bottom of the redacted emails, it appears that M Mikesell applied for the position. According to the staff directory, Matthew Mikesell teaches Grade Six Social Studies at Mellon. http://www.mtlsd.org/page.cfm?p=632 Elaine Cappucci's son won out over an internal hire, a social studies teacher from Mellon.

Update May 23, 2017 5:46 PM I wrote back to Jeanine Szalinski, Timmy's administrative assistant/Open Records Officer asking for clarification concerning my RTK.  Well, that's all she wrote. That is all I am getting, even though it is not what I requested. So here are my options. Accept it at face value or appeal it to the PA Office of Open Records. Been there, done that. Still waiting for the PA Supreme Court to hear my case on the last appeal. I lost too much money on that deal, thinking that we have the right to know where lethal weapons are being fired in Mt. Lebanon. Ha! OR one of the million attorneys in Mt. Lebanon that isn't on Team Timmy can get a subpoena, or help me FOR FREE. I can file an appeal with the PA OOR, but their decision means nothing to Mt. Lebanon.

Update May 25, 2017 5:53 PM I decided to file an appeal with the PA Office of Open Records. Here is the correspondence MTLSD and I received today: the email and the confirmation letter from the Office of Open Records. I agreed to a thirty day extension, so their final determination will be on or before July 24, 2017.

Santa baby, and hurry down the chimney tonight

An earlier comment suggested I contact the ACLU concerning my Commonwealth Court affirmation.

If you are still interested in pursuing this case, I would suggest that you give Vic Walczak, the legal director of PA's ACLU, a call. I think he lives in Upper St. Clair, and see if he would be willing to take this case to the Pa Supreme Court. 

Thanks for all of your efforts to identify these hunting and shooting locations so that residents can warn their children to stay out of harms way, and try to protect the safety of their family and pets.

December 12, 2016 at 11:10 PM

I contacted the ACLU and received this reply:

From: Info <Info@aclupa.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, Dec 14, 2016 8:59 am

 Thank you for contacting the ACLU with your question.  Unfortunately, the ACLU does not currently have a confidential system by which to process email complaints, or the resources to answer general questions about the law. 

 

The ACLU is a privately funded organization relying heavily on the services of volunteer attorneys.  We seek to preserve and extend certain constitutional principles, most of which are found in the Bill of Rights.  We are not a general provider of legal services.

 

We generally take only those cases in which the facts are not in substantial dispute and, more importantly, in which there is a significant civil liberties issue.  We give priority to cases where our participation can benefit a large class of people or lead to a positive change in the law.  Scarce resources are an unfortunate constraint, preventing us from taking many meritorious civil liberties cases.  As a result, we must be very selective in choosing which issues to address.

 

To obtain an answer to your question or other legal advice, we advise you to contact a private attorney or other legal services provider.   If you believe that your rights have been violated, you can complete and submit an online complaint form on our website at http://www.aclupa.org/our-work/legal/fileacomplaint/electronic-complaint-form , or you may fill out and mail in a general complaint form, which is available athttp://www.aclupa.org/downloads/intakequestionnaire.pdf More information about the types of cases we take is available at http://www.aclupa.org/legal/fileacomplaint.htm.

 

 

Info

ACLU of Pennsylvania

PO Box 60173

Philadelphia, Pa 19102

p: 215-592-1513

www.aclupa.org

Taking this case to the State Supreme Court is very expensive. I still haven't recovered from the first round at the Court of Common Pleas, thanks to our commissioners who appealed the PA Office of Open Records Final Determinations. My gofundme was helpful (thanks again to all who contributed) but left me with quite a legal bill. Unless Santa leaves me a check under the tree, I don't see how I can continue to pursue this. We don't have the right to know where or when arrows are flying or bullets are discharged in our densely populated community. I'm arranging a bus trip to Rolliers to meet with John in the paint department, so that he may advise us on soothing colors to paint our basements.*

Thanks, Kristen Linfante, for the sage advice.

*In case there are readers who do not recognize sarcasm, there is no bus trip to Rolliers.

Commonwealth Court

I think I have finally decompressed. The Municipality of Mt. Lebanon v Elaine Gillen and the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records oral argument was heard in Commonwealth Court on Monday, November 14.

I had never been in Commonwealth Court before. On a side note, I had never been in Common Pleas Court either. The courtroom which was used for the argument was the Supreme Court Room. It is spectacular.

We were number six or seven on the Court Calendar to go before a panel of three Commonwealth Court judges who came from Harrisburg and Philadelphia. No judge from Mt. Lebanon this time around! Before anyone asks, I do not know who the people were from Mt. Lebanon or recognized Mt. Lebanon School District's attorney for the School District case. They were last on the schedule and I left after we were finished.

I had to chuckle when I compared how Mt. Lebanon's commissioners run citizen comments vs. how the Commonwealth Court president handled the cases. Each side was permitted eight minutes for oral argument. Appellants were heard first and had to state if they wanted to reserve two minutes of their time for a rebuttal after the appellees' eight minutes. The Commonwealth Court President had a kitchen timer and would ignore the beeper if they had asked questions and/or would permit both sides to continue their arguments if they were in a middle of a thought. It was very civilized. No interruptions like our power hungry, ego-inflated commissioners handle citizen comments, unless you are Michalina, who is allowed to continue when the clock runs out.

I wish Cori Vipperman attended the argument. She would have crawled under the chair when the one senior judge interrupted MTL's counsel and said in so many words, "Please don't tell me that you think people felt threatened by someone who is against killing deer." The solicitor said that Judge O'Brien had already thrown that out in the lower court. Cori Vipperman email

I thought I would have seen Dave Franklin there, since he was willing to reach out to the Solicitor with the case. He encouraged the commissioners to appeal the Office of Open Records' decisions. Dave Franklin email See Dave? It isn't about intimidation or cyber bullying. Judge O'Brien ruled that the commissioners who were against it, were not in any danger. Their addresses were public information. Nobody "drove by their homes ...and perhaps worse." Whatever that means.

I don't know when a decision will be made. It could take several months. The next level would be to go before the State Supreme Court, IF the State Supreme Court would hear the case. Since Mt. Lebanon has endless amounts of money, the little person doesn't stand a chance.

Deer and the Courts Update

A court ordered appearance before Judge McCarthy was to take place on July 26, 2016 between Scott Township and the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon regarding killing deer in Twin Hills Park located in Scott Township. The docket is available here. Anyone know the results of that conference?

My attorneys have appealed Court of Common Pleas Judge Terrence O'Brien's decision concerning donation exemptions. It is now in Commonwealth Court. Don't worry, Taxpayers. This isn't costing Mt. Lebanon taxpayers (including Judge O'Brien) anything additionally, thanks to the sweet deal Mt. Lebanon has with Buchanan Ingersoll. MTL can take anyone to court (or be taken to court) and it doesn't cost taxpayers a dime extra. Scott Township residents aren't so lucky. Neither are those who are granted TWO Final Determinations by the PA Office of Open Records of whom Judge O'Brien disagreed.

My gofundme is still active. See side bar for the link or click here. I have made Not In My Yard key fobs this year to match the yard signs which are still available. A $10 donation will get you both a yard sign and a key fob. What a deal! You would have to buy 104 yard signs and 104 key fobs to equal what taxpayers are spending just to register Susan Morgans for the NYC trade show!

Archery starts up again next month.  It sure came up quickly, didn't it? In Mt. Lebanon, we kill (or try to kill) deer more often than not.

MTL is failing again with the Office of Open Records

The Municipality of Mt. Lebanon lost, at the minimum, a third Final Determination by the PA Office of Open Records. See http://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Documents/FinalDet/22979.pdf  Mt. Lebanon is pulling the same crap as they did with me.

• Mt. Lebanon invoked a 30 day extension to respond to the Request, but failed to do so in 30 days. At that point, the Request was deemed denied.
• On the 33rd day, MTL claimed that the records were confidential AND argued that the request was "overly broad."
• The Requestor appealed to the OOR, challenging the denial. A week later, both parties submitted position statements, as in both of my appeals.
• The Requestor only asked for electronic records, nothing scanned or printed. Mt. Lebanon admitted that there were some electronic records, but then goes on to say that the Requestor was modifying the request, which is not permitted. They pulled the same crap with me. In all three cases, the requests were not modified on appeal.
• MTL argues that there was too much information to email. MTL is permitted to put all the information on a CD or a flash drive and charge the Requestor the actual cost of the media.

Mt. Lebanon has thirty days to comply or go the same route as they chose with me TWICE, and appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. As noted by Commissioner Steve Silverman, appealing to a higher court is free to taxpayers according to the contract with Buchanan Ingersoll. The only cost for transparency is with the Requestor.

I know that Rep. Dan Miller is personally inviting our five commissioners to his Office of Open Records seminar on September 15. Thank you, Dan!

Erik Arneson Tweets from the OOR

• Tweets
 
• Tweets & replies
 
• Media

1. Erik Arneson ‏@ErikOpenRecords  6h6 hours ago

   The 1st half of 2016 was the 2nd busiest 1st half of a year ever at the OOR. #opengov #RTKL

Appeals Filed in the First Half of 2016

7 JULY 2016 / ERIK ARNESON

A total of 1,146 appeals were filed with the Office of Open Records in the first half of 2016. Here’s the monthly breakdown:

• January – 122
• February – 317
  
• March – 184
• April – 141
• May – 198
• June – 184

That’s the second-busiest first half of the year ever at the OOR. Here’s a comparison of appeals filed in the first six months of each year the OOR has existed:

• 2016 (Jan. to June) – 1,146
• 2015 (Jan. to June) – 1,181
• 2014 (Jan. to June) – 1,017
• 2013 (Jan. to June) – 1,129
• 2012 (Jan. to June) – 1,064
• 2011 (Jan. to June) – 908
• 2010 (Jan. to June) – 601
• 2009 (Jan. to June) – 560

State Representative Dan Miller is hosting a seminar with Erik Arneson on September 15, 2016 at the Mt. Lebanon Public Library. Save the date!

Is it serendipity?

Happy Sunshine Week! Is it serendipity that my birthday always falls during Sunshine Week? I hope so. I filed a RTK for the type of bait and method used to distribute it and was told yesterday that Mt. Lebanon needs to do a 30 day legal review. I wonder which of the thirty exceptions, including records related to personal or public security, DNA/RNA records, autopsy records, Social Security numbers, personal financial information, personal email addresses, marital status, identity of a covert law enforcement officer, home address of judges or law enforcement, confidential source records, and victim information, MTL is going to cite this time. They're just playing with me now.

In the spirit of Sunshine Week, the executive director of the PA Office of Open Records sent the following email to our state representatives.

Good afternoon and happy Sunshine Week!

Pursuant to Section 1310(a)(9) of the Right-to-Know Law, the Office of Open Records has prepared its Annual Report for 2015. The full report is attached; if you have any difficulties opening the attachment, it’s also available online:

http://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Additional-Resources/Documents/AnnaulReport2015.pdf

Some highlights from this year’s Annual Report include:

·         2,926 appeals filed in 2015, a record total.

·         1,794 appeals involving local agencies vs. 1,132 involving state agencies.

·         For the first time, the Annual Report provides a county-by-county looks at local agency appeals.

·         5 of the top appellate court decisions involving the RTKL.

·         10 examples of records accessed via the RTKL.

·         54 training sessions conducted across the state for about 1,500 people.

·         A look at what the OOR might face in the future.

Today is the first day of Sunshine Week, a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. As part of Sunshine Week, I’ll be analyzing some of the data in the OOR Annual Report, along with some data that didn’t make the final report – and more – on our blog and Twitter feeds:

https://openrecordspa.wordpress.com/

https://twitter.com/ErikOpenRecords

https://twitter.com/OpenRecordsPA

Thank you for your support of the Office of Open Records, and please let me know if you have any questions at all.

Cheers,

Erik

Erik Arneson Executive Director Office of Open Records Commonwealth Keystone Building 400 North St., Plaza Level Harrisburg, PA 17120-0225 (717) 346-9903  |  http://openrecords.pa.gov earneson@pa.gov @ErikOpenRecords  |  @OpenRecordsPA Open Records in Pennsylvania Blog

My court date is still April 11, 2016. If you haven't done so already, please consider visiting The Fight for the Right to Know. A comment in the following op/ed, To force government to be transparent, go directly to the campaign trail: Terry Mutchler, a supporter writes:

anadvocate

It is pathetic if citizens must get a lawyer and file legal suits to have our "public servants" comply with transparency laws.  These politicians are not serving us.  Instead they are protecting corruption and cronies.  I agree that citizens and activists need to keep the heat on.  There cannot be too much transparency when it deals with the actions of bureaucrats and politicians. 

Happy Sunshine Week!

Open season for busy bodies again UPDATED

The PG's John Hayes published the Office of Open Records' Final Determination of my Right To Know appeal, the second one that was granted my way. Mt. Lebanon required to disclose deer hunt records Now busy bodies and Republicans are under attack in the comment section. Only "busy bodies" want to know where the hunting is taking place. Ironically, I don't remember the last time I voted for a Republican whose name wasn't "Elaine Gillen." Aaaannnd, five Democrats voted for the archery program.

John Hayes just emailed me at 5:00 and asked if I was interested in doing an interview with him. Here is what I wrote back:

This is the second OOR appeal that they granted. Only 20% of OOR appeals are granted. 

I thought I would have seen you at Amy Castor's hearing. At the bottom of page 5 of the OOR's Final Determination which you posted, Mt. Lebanon referenced Amy Castor's charges. Blaise convicted Amy of two charges with fines totaling $1100. Judge Nauhaus dropped one charge and reduced her fine to one dollar.

Mt. Lebanon is taking me to court on April 11. Want to donate to my legal expenses?  https://www.gofundme.com/thefightforthertk

Can't wait to see what kind of a spin he puts on that one.

Update March 3, 2016 11:35 PM I'm noticing that the PG is deleting the personal attacks tonight.

Update March 4, 2016 1:00 AM State agency still believes Mt. Lebanon deer cull emails are public records Deleting personal attacks in the Trib - not so much. 

Hearing Updates

Castor Appeal

Amy Castor is the Massachusetts resident who decided to walk on the path at the end of Thornwood in early October and ended up getting slapped with an $1100 fine from Blaise Laratonda for not deleting photos of police officers, dead deer, and Aaron Gander's truck.

Amy Castor’s appeal will be heard on Tuesday, March 1, at 8:15 AM, in courtroom number 21, on the eighth floor of the City County Building on Grant Street. Senior Judge Lester Nauhaus will preside over the hearing. Amy will be represented by ACLU appointed lawyer, Jon Pushinsky.

I am sure that Amy would appreciate it if Lebo Citizens readers attended the hearing. Thanks for your support.

"Gillen Litigation" as listed on several Executive Session Agendas

Tuesday's Executive Session is listed as "Legal Advice." http://www.mtlebanon.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2572

Here is the update on my case. I had appealed a second Right To Know, similar to the first which is being fought in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, but the date is from July 31, 2015 - November 25, 2015. The Office of Open Records expects to issue a final determination in my second case next week. Attorneys from both sides agree that this does not leave enough time for them to consolidate the two matters in time for the hearing/argument now scheduled with Judge O'Brien for next Friday, 2/26/16. Therefore, the attorneys have requested that it be rescheduled for the next available date. This could mean a month from now. I will keep everyone posted here.

More, as promised

I wrote my check for $67.75 today and already complained to the commission, not that it will do any good.

Commissioners,

In good faith, I wrote my check for $67.75 and handed it to Bonnie Cross this afternoon. In it, I found three copies of White Buffalo's 10 page Archer Application Packet, none of it was redacted. Thirty pages @ 25¢/page, was billed to me.

I also received and was charged 25¢ for spam from a classic car company.

And finally, more inappropriate comments about me from Susan Fleming Morgans, where she calls me a witch. For some reason, Steve Feller overlooked Susan's behavior toward me. I hope with the new sheriff in town, this inappropriate and unprofessional behavior is dealt with in a timely matter, with copies placed in Ms. Morgans' file. I am still waiting for multiple apologies from Ms. Morgans from the past. I am paying 25¢ a copy to read her trash. In addition, I am attaching an email that she sent to Mr. Takach, which is horrifying.

Elaine Gillen

What I hadn't included in my email to the commission, is this gem.

A response from Steve Silverman to Mr. Sohn, who wanted the deer eradicated from Mt. Lebanon.

There are still more emails to sift through, but I have had enough for one day.

Update January 5, 2015 6:10 PM Keith McGill's response:

From: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; Bonnie Cross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Tue, Jan 5, 2016 6:04 pm
Subject: Re: RTK that was paid for today

Good evening Elaine,

I apologize if you were inappropriately billed regarding the RTK request that you reference in your email. I am copying Bonnie on my reply and asking her to work with the Finance Department to issue you a refund in the amount of $7.75 which I believe is what you were charged in error based on your email.

Regarding your reference and attachment where you indicate that Susan Morgan's called you a witch I do not see where you are specifically called or referred to as being a witch.

As to the Takach email I have read that exchange and I will discuss the sentence that reads "and I do not need a lecture about my responsibilities" with Ms. Morgans and handle this as a personnel matter.

Keith

--

Keith McGill, AICP
Municipal Manager/Municipal Planner
412-343-3684
kmcgill@mtlebanon.org 

Who is Mary McFarland and why...

The 9:20 PM comment under "Parting gifts and the budget: "Who is Mary McFarland and why is she perpetuating the same jibberish of too many Mt. Lebanon residents who are too stupid to grasp the dangers of bow hunting in our highly dense community. They've all been drugged." This is in response to the latest letter in The Almanac, Right to Know information not vital

In response to the article, “Mt. Lebanon resident granted right to know request, ” (The Almanac, Dec. 2-8) I have a question: Why is this information so relevant and important enough to be publicly disclosed? Just because a Mt. Lebanon resident (as a private citizen) sent an email to their commissioner (as private communication) offering to use their yard as part of the deer hunt doesn’t necessarily mean that that particular yard was actually used for the purpose of hunting. The White Buffalo representatives sent emails, made phone calls and visited homes to determine the safest and most effective places for them to use. Only then did they set up their base of operation. The deer population touches almost every yard in Mt. Lebanon, yet not every yard is a proper or safe hunting site. 

If Ms. Gillen is sincerely worried about where the actual hunting is taking place, then she should request that information from White Buffalo, not Mt. Lebanon. Having access to email and home addresses of people who contacted their commissioners in the context of private communication is none of her business. The actual deer cull has been going on for several weeks and so far there haven’t been any safety issues yet. Ms. Gillen insists that she needs this information for safety purposes and continues to ask for more correspondence from Mt. Lebanon. By the time she gets this (if she does), the cull will be over. Again, what good will this do? 

There are visible signs all over Mt. Lebanon with regard to hunting/ no hunting in the area. Anecdotal evidence so far shows that the cull is successful. I see fewer deer and I have not heard of any accidental human injuries. It would be interesting as well to see if there have been fewer traffic incidents. 

Mt. Lebanon is not the only community that has to cull it’s deer population. This activity goes on all over Allegheny County, as well as the entire state of Pennsylvania. Why has this become such an issue in Mt. Lebanon? 

Mary McFarland

Mt. Lebanon

The good news is that Mary McFarland doesn't think we need sharpshooting since she thinks the cull is successful and that she has seen fewer deer. The bad news is that Mary McFarland doesn't understand that communication to commissioners is public information. Agencies, such as Mt. Lebanon Municipality and School District are permitted to redact certain information such as Social Security numbers, health records, information about minors under 17, phone numbers, personal email addresses, trade secrets, autopsies, academic transcripts, executive session discussions, etc. There are 30 exceptions. Well, that's a lie. There are 31. The 31st is Susan Morgans is permitted to leak out executive session discussions if it suits her. Especially if it is about the commission appealing a state decision made in my favor.

Off to Court UPDATED 3X

Mt. Lebanon has decided to appeal the Office of Open Records Final Determination. I just read about it in the Post Gazette. Mt. Lebanon to appeal open records decision regarding landowners' addresses, deer management program

I sent an email with the link to this article to the Office of Open Records and copied Phil Weis. I was not notified of this decision. I asked the attorney who made the final determination if she had been notified, as required. I'll let you know what I hear.

Update December 2, 2015 4:21 PM Boy, Susan Morgans must be in her glory. She even contacted the Trib with the news. Mt. Lebanon to appeal order to release deer cull records She never tells Rick Wills anything.

Update December 2, 2015 7:38 PM The hunters are all over this. I had this email exchange yesterday.

From: dewrite <dewrite@comcast.net>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2015 3:22 pm
Subject: Re: interview

Hi, Elaine - No relation to the Weisbergs you mentioned. I found you through coverage of the open records matter. As I understand it, Mt. Lebo refused to provide names of property owners you sought, so you successfully appealed to state open records to force Mt. Lebo to provide you with copies of emails that might contain those names?

---

From: egillen476@aol.com

To: "dewrite" <dewrite@comcast.net>

Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 2:24:32 PM

Subject: Re: interview

A day? 

I grew up with ....................... Weisberg in Mt. Lebanon. Any relation?

How did you find me?

Elaine

-----Original Message-----

From: dewrite <dewrite@comcast.net>

To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>

Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2015 2:18 pm

Subject: Re: interview

Elaine - sorry to hear you are ill. I'd prefer a phone interview over an email interview. But if no one responds, that may be our only option. How much time should I give awaiting a response>?

---

From: egillen476@aol.com

To: "dewrite" <dewrite@comcast.net>

Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2015 1:26:41 PM

Subject: Re: interview

Hi Deborah,

Thank you for contacting me. Unfortunately, I have a bad case of bronchitis and have no voice. Can you email me? Or if you want to do a phone interview, I have blind copied some people and they can respond if they want to do a phone interview with you.

Thanks.

Elaine Gillen

-----Original Message-----

From: dewrite <dewrite@comcast.net>

To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>

Sent: Tue, Dec 1, 2015 1:17 pm

Subject: interview

Hi, Ellen - I'd like to interview you about the deer cull for Pennsylvania Outdoor News. Are you available for a phone interview? Thanks. Deborah Weisberg

*****

While I'm on the subject of Right To Knows, here is more crap from Mt. Lebanon.
I filed a Right To Know the other day for all the emails that Coleen Vuono emailed to me while she was in office, from both her personal email account and her mtlebanon.org account. Here is the response I got today.

So then I sent this:

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: bcross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: philip.weis <philip.weis@bipc.com>; kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>
Sent: Wed, Dec 2, 2015 5:35 pm

Subject: Legal review

Bonnie,

Let me get this straight. You need a legal review to see if the emails that Coleen Vuono SENT TO ME are public information. I just want duplicate copies to what Coleen has already sent to me, to make certain that I have not inadvertently deleted any of them. Do you seriously need to do a legal review?

Elaine Gillen

Update December 3, 2015 12:22 PM When did this place get so ugly? I heard back from Bonnie Cross.

From: Bonnie Cross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Weis, Philip <philip.weis@bipc.com>; Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>
Sent: Thu, Dec 3, 2015 9:46 am
Subject: Re: Legal review

Ms. Gillen,

Yes. We believe at least some of the records you requested are not public records, will fit within an exception, or will require redaction.

Regards,

Bonnie Cross

On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 5:35 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:

Bonnie,

Let me get this straight. You need a legal review to see if the emails that Coleen Vuono SENT TO ME are public information. I just want duplicate copies to what Coleen has already sent to me, to make certain that I have not inadvertently deleted any of them. Do you seriously need to do a legal review?

Elaine Gillen

--

Bonnie Cross

Assistant to the Manager

Mt. Lebanon, PA