No agendas posted for Monday UPDATED Published! Secret topics, as well as parking restrictions on 5 streets

I emailed the commissioners this morning, asking about the agendas for Monday's meetings. No agendas have been posted for Monday's Discussion Session OR the commission meeting. (No LeboALERT had been sent out.)

I also asked when we were going to get the results from the archery hunt. We usually get them at the February meetings.

No response.

Update February 24, 2018 8:57 PM I heard back from Steve Silverman.

From: Steve Silverman <ssilverman@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Sat, Feb 24, 2018 8:36 pm
Subject: Re: Agendas

Elaine, 

I understand the agendas have been posted for Monday's meetings. Also, the Deer Management report for the archery program has been forwarded to IT to be posted on the Mt Lebanon website. 

Steve S

On Feb 24, 2018 9:44 AM, "'egillen476@aol.com' via Commission" <commission@mtlebanon.org> wrote:

Commissioners,

1. When will the agendas be posted for Monday's meetings? 

2. When will we be getting the numbers from the archery hunt?

Elaine Gillen

2/26/18 Commission Discussion Session agenda
More discussion on overnight parking. I have never seen this before: Thirty five minutes are set aside for
#4. 7:15 p.m. Extended discussion session(s)
Consideration of topics for extended discussion session(s)
Commission will discuss and suggest possible topics for an extended discussion session(s)

What the heck does that mean? They won't even list what the topics will be? They are allowing 35 minutes for this! No transparency!

2/26/18 Commission meeting agenda

Parking restrictions on Main Entrance Drive, Circle Drive, Outlook Drive, Lebanon Hills Drive, and Inglewood Drive. 

Baiters Gonna Bait - no, the big news is below! OMG! UPDATED 3X

A man driving a four door grey Nissan pickup, much like this one except without running boards and roof rails, has been driving in the Sunset Hills area putting out bait in a white bucket. The Allegheny County Health Department has warned Mt. Lebanon that this method of distributing bait is not permitted.

Baiters have been walking along Old Farm near Brafferton and Fruithurst. The Nissan has been parked in different spots over the last week in the same area. The woods, located behind those houses on Fruithurst, Brafferton and Old Farm, are private property. Additionally, deer have been gathering around Newburn and headed toward Beverly Road. Lovely. More deer/car collisions.

Don't forget how deer are being baited toward Cochran Road, in Virginia Manor. Who is the mastermind baiting so close to busy roads? Wait. Let me guess. The guy who couldn't show up tonight to tell us how many deer were killed by archers. 

Oh my gosh! The archery report summary has been published on the Municipal website. THIRTY SIX deer were killed. We paid $9000 for thirty six deer to be killed by volunteers. There was one unrecovered deer by the WBI group and one not recovered from the Hunter Cooperative; resulting in a ~5% loss rate. From the report:

The consensus for this decline seems to be due to the decline of the deer population in their hunting areas.

I am so fucking mad. DeNicola convinced the asshole commissioners to spend almost $84,000 to kill more deer in the current round of "sharpshooting." AND THERE IS A DECLINE OF THE DEER POPULATION? Are you fucking kidding me?

Update February 15, 2017 2:28 PM I asked for an explanation to the numbers of deer kills in the public areas. I never seem to fully understand the logic.

Email exchange - Gillen and McGill 021517.

Update February 15, 2017 11:09 PM Ask any question about the deer killing and you'll hear "I don't know."

1. Why weren't there any deer killed in Robb Hollow or Public Works? "I don't know."
2. What kind of bait is being used to lure the deer? "I don't know."
3. How is the bait being distributed? "I don't know."
4. Is Jared Hudson doing the baiting? "I don't know."*
5. When will the sharpshooting begin? "I don't know."
6. Will a LeboALERT be sent out alerting residents when sharpshooting will begin? "I don't know."
7. Why aren't the specific hours listed on the website's FAQ? "I don't know."

Will someone make an audio recording of Kimberly Schevtchuk's comments from last night, please? It pretty much went like what I listed above, except for #1 and #4. I asked about Robb Hollow and Public Works. Because of Kimberly's direct questioning, the municipality issued a LeboALERT today and updated the website to show the specific hours of "sharpshooting."

*Mr. Meduho,

The sharpshooting contract is a time and materials contract between White Buffalo and the municipality. As such, all contact with the contractor will be through Mt. Lebanon to ensure that we are effectively controlling costs associated with the program.

 Knowing the identity of the individual placing the bait returns no value to the municipality.

 Keith

Update February 16, 2017 12:55 PM I am posting an audio recording of Kimberly Schevtchuk's comments here.

Brick Street Policy - 25 minutes, Archery Hunt - 10 minutes

The agenda for tonight's Commission Discussion Session is posted here. If Dave Brumfield adheres to the schedule, "Ian McMeans, Matt Bagaley and others will present the policy for discussion" for twenty-five minutes. Ian McMeans is the assistant manager. Matt Bagaley is from Gateway Engineering. I wonder who the "others" are.

Twenty-five minutes for a discussion about brick streets sounds like a long time to "review of possible policy for the replacement of brick streets." I bet high maintenance Ward 1 gets their way again.

Keith McGill, not Tony DeNicola, will be providing a review of 2016 controlled archery hunt report. In ten minutes or less. What a gig! Tony DeNicola, Bonnie Cross, and Susan Morgans account for almost $500,000 of the municipal budget. Manager McGill earns way too much to answer emails from residents and be the frontman for the deer killing. 

On another note, core drilling took place at Public Works. This is in preparation for the Public Works Facility and Firing Range project at the tune of $6,735,000. I wonder if Tony will lure the deer inside the firing range to kill them. 

Presenting the newly updated, updated, revised final Final Archery Report

Keith McGill was kind enough to let me know of the change on the municipal website. The report now includes the number of deer killed in each park. See page 5.

Archery Harvest Numbers by Park:
Golf course - 15
Conservation District - 6
Rob Hollow - 15
McNeilly - 7

When I questioned the count for Public Works, Keith believes the Robb Hollow number reflects both Robb Hollow and the Public Works site. He doesn't believe they differentiated between the two.

I won the second appeal. McNeilly is back in. Final - Final Archery Report UPDATED 2X

No surprise, but the Office of Open Records granted my SECOND RTK appeal today. The second appeal is identical to the first appeal, just different dates. They cited Gillen v Municipality of Mt. Lebanon in their final determination.

McNeilly Park is back in the shooting plan. Two pickup trucks were spotted at the entrance to McNeilly Park today, a white pickup truck with PA plates and a grayish pickup truck with out of state plates. There is only a sliver of land that is outside of the 1000' Federal Gun Free School Zone. Clearly, they are shooting there for the numbers, not to reduce deer/vehicular accidents by 50% in five years.

Last night, Jody Jodi Joe D. Maddock gave a final report via telephone. As reported in The Almanac, Mt. Lebanon posted his final report here on the municipal website.

High-percentage female harvest cited as success in Mt. Lebanon archery hunt

Sharpshooting for Mt. Lebanon deer cull could begin this week

I love what "Southside Slopes" wrote in his/her comment: "Sharpshooters killing wildlife. Police arresting jaywalkers. Taxes sky high. Plot for a new apocalyptic movie? Nah. Just Mt. Lebanon circa 2016."

Update February 24, 2016 6:38 PM  Office of Open Records sides with Mt. Lebanon resident

Update February 24, 2016 6:54 PM It looks like Tony DiNicola made a boo-boo on the final Final Report. Plus, no info on the bait or in which QUADRANT the deer were killed. Here is the correspondence I had with Keith McGill.

Good evening Elaine,

I spoke to Tony and he indicated that the omission of the Conservation District from the final archery report was an oversight on his part and he apologized for the error.

The final reports from 2006-2008 were provided by USDA. The municipality currently tracks deer/vehicular collisions by location. This information is useful in determining where to post deer crossing signs. I'm not sure what the statistical correlation would be between where deer have been removed and deer/vehicular collisions given the municipality's open deer population and typical range that a doe or especially a buck will travel. In my email response to you on February 4th I wrote:

Good afternoon Elaine,

The information posted to the website today for the archery program represents the final deer removal numbers for the program. There will be another a final report that includes additional information related to the program. Since we have not yet received the report I am unable to provide you the specifics as to what that other information will be.

I did not indicate that the report would include locations. The report as posted is final. I will add a note regarding the use of the Conservation District.

As to the type of bait being used or the method being used to place the bait, this is an operational issue and as such Chief Lauth or Deputy Chief Gallagher may be a better resource to provide a response.

Keith 

On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 4:45 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:


Hi Keith,

Thank you for posting Jody Maddock's final Final Report on the municipal website. http://mtlebanon.org/DocumentCenter/View/13897


There are a few issues that I would like to bring to your attention. I do not see the Conservation District listed for the archery program. At Election Day, I spoke with Temp Smith (Steve M., you may have been standing there at the time) where as of Election Day, they killed sixteen deer from the Conservation District behind his house. Temp lives onWhite Oak Circle. He said that the archer was courteous and even asked him if he wanted any meat. Temp's only complaint was that at one point the coyotes had gotten to the deer before the archer had a chance to get it. You will have to check with him directly on that. My point here is that the Conservation District was not mentioned at the meeting or in the final Final Report.


Second, in the first two years of deer killing (2006-2008) the summaries included where the deer were killed. The first year was rather specific. The second year, the deer killings were plotted by quadrants. In order to track the deer/car collisions, it is necessary to know the number of deer killed from which areas. Keith, you had stated that the information would be in the final Final Report. The records from the previous years are still available on the municipal website. Would you please get that information from White Buffalo and have them or the municipality plot which areas the 104 deer were killed being consistent with past years?


Finally, what kind of bait is being used for the "sharpshooting?" What is the method used for spreading the bait?


Thanks in advance, Keith.


Elaine Gillen

Mt. Lebanon releases archery results

Mt. Lebanon releases archery results

In the deer killing years of 2006-2008, Mt. Lebanon plotted the locations of where the deer were killed by quadrant. I believe the map is still on the municipal website. This is what we get this year, thanks to Harry Funk at The Almanac. There is nothing on the municipal website.

Mt. Lebanon has released the results of the archery hunt conducted for the municipality through White Buffalo Inc., along with reports from hunters on private properties. 

Total Deer Harvest: 104 

Hunter Cooperative – 20; White Buffalo Hunters - 84
Antlered – 8; Antlerless – 96 (10 male, 86 female)
Total Female Harvest - 86; Total Male Harvest – 18
Percent Female Harvest – 83% 

Hunter Cooperative Harvest Information
Deer Harvested – 20
Male – 4; Female – 16
Antlered – 2
Antlerless – 18 (male – 2, female – 16)
Percent Female Harvest – 80% 

White Buffalo Harvest Information
Deer Harvested – 84
Male – 14 Female - 70
Antlered - 6
Antlerless – 78 (male – 8, female – 70)
% Female Harvest – 83%
Public Property Harvest – 43 Private Property Harvest - 41
Deer donated to Hunters Sharing the Harvest (HSH) – 63
% of White Buffalo harvest donated – 75%
Estimated meat donated based on HSH formula – 2,520 pounds 

Charities Benefiting From Donations: Bethany Presbyterian Church, Jubilee Soup Kitchen, Greater Washington Food Bank, Link in the Chain Ministries, Monongahela Food Bank, West Hills Food Pantry