What do you do when... UPDATED

you had a bad experience with a local business and it is virtually impossible to leave a bad review? I was taken off their mailing list, blocked on Facebook, and my reputation was smeared. Since I was blocked on Facebook, I couldn't leave a review.  I went on Yelp. I left a well thought out review (not a rant and even complimenting when credit was due) on Yelp, only to have them get it removed from Yelp. The Yelp legal department called it, "a conflict of interest," citing that I was a former employee. Sorry, Yelp, I was never an employee. 

Only rave reviews are left, some by relatives of employees.  Other positive reviews are given by sympathetic customers who listen to the sob stories.  Shouldn't the public have the right to read ALL reviews, both good and bad? We are talking about purchases that are worth thousands of dollars.

Going to the Better Business Bureau is not an option. They have been reported to the BBB through the years - not by me, but by others. 

My money is no good there. Oh yeah. They are always on the Mt. Lebanon tax lien list every year.  Even the IRS is after them. All public information and well documented. They may think that they won, but you can't keep treating your best customers like crap. It does catch up to you, sooner or later.

Update December 2, 2018 9:28 AM There is legislation which supports consumer rights and the integrity of critical feedback about products and services.

Yes, You Can Post That Negative Online Review, Says Congress

School Board is back from Summer Break UPDATED

For the first time in history, the school board took off the month of July. The agenda for Monday's Discussion Meeting is available here.

The school board will continue their practice of public shaming with their

Publication of Listing of Liened Taxes – Annually the Board takes action to make the list of liened property taxes from the prior year for public view. The list is recommended for public view by the Superintendent. 

Timmy had his review on June 27, 2018 and will be getting his contracted 6% increase, resulting in a salary of $217,822. No mention of a bonus this year. Aww.

To be voted on at the next meeting:

School Resource Officer: RESOLVED, That the School Resource Officer Agreement between the District and the Municipality is approved in substantially the form presented, providing for a three-year term with the District reimbursing the Municipality for 65% of all costs incurred by the Municipality in providing the School Resource Officer, in amounts estimated to be $78,088, $84,193, and $91,414, respectively, in each year of the Agreement. 

More discussion on the capital campaign.

The good news is that the school district is a loving and caring board. They will be approving $100 for supplies for the homeless. This will come from a Federal grant.

August 13, 2018 1:32 PM The capital campaign has list approximately $6,000 YTD ending 7/31/18.
https://www.mtlsd.org/uploaded/District/Century_of_Excllence/Capital_Campaign_Financials_073118.pdf

UPMC, Tax Liens, PlanCon I, Salary Increases, Change Orders, and Credit Cards UPDATED

Normally, the School Board has two meetings per month, a construction update/discussion meeting and a business meeting. July is the exception. The School Board introduces and then passes agenda items on the same night. That night is tomorrow. Here are the highlights from the July School Board Meeting Agenda.

List of Liened Taxes: RESOLVED, That the Board approves for public display the list of liened taxes for the 2014 tax year.

****** 

Local Services Tax (LST) Collections – The Municipal Tax Office currently processes the District’s LST collection. The cost of collection has been shared equally with the Municipality at $18,000. We are recommending a contract with Jordan Tax Service to do this collection. Jordan’s fees are 1.8% of sums collected plus a sum of 10% or 20% on collection of delinquent LTS accounts (the fee depending on how soon the tax is paid) plus half of all penalties and fines collected in litigation plus costs of going after delinquencies. We anticipate this contract would cost the District under $1,000 plus the cost to collect delinquencies. The Solicitor’s Office has reviewed the contract and recommends its approval. The Superintendent recommends approval of this contract.

Local Services Tax Collections: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the contract with Jordan Tax Services to collect Local Services Taxes at 1.8% of the collections plus additional cost to collect delinquencies in the form presented.

                                                                          ****** 

Salary Increase for Assistant Superintendents – Annually, the Board is required to review the performance of the Assistant Superintendents: Dr. Ronald Davis, Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education and Dr. Marybeth Irvin, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education. In accordance with statutory requirements the performance of each has been rated as satisfactory. The recommended salary increases are within the 2.8% average salary increase as previously identified as the average Act 93 administrator increase. The Superintendent recommends the salary increases for satisfactory performance for each Assistant Superintendent.

Salary Increase for Assistant Superintendents: RESOLVED, That the Board rates the performance of the Assistant Superintendents as satisfactory and approves the salary of $139,055 for Dr. Ronald Davis and $122,127 for Dr. Marybeth Irvin effective July 1, 2015.

                                                                          ******

DonorPro Contract: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the DonorPro Merchant Services Integrated Donation Processing contract at $10 per month plus 2.89% plus $.20 per credit card transaction for donations towards the Capital Campaign. 

                                                                          ******

Athletic Trainer Services: RESOLVED, That the Board accepts the proposal from UPMC Sports Medicine for athletic training services at their five year price of $179,000 through June 30, 2020.

The 2010-2015 Agreement is available on my website and below:

On April 19, 2010, the Mt. Lebanon Board of School Directors approved an agreement with UPMC Sports Medicine for athletic training services and physician services for the 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years at our cost of $154,000. UPMC will be needing designated parking, which is something that was never indicated by the School Board at any municipal meeting. Besides paying UPMC $154,000, MTLSD will agree to serve as a regional center for UPMC by providing auditorium, gymnasium, classroom or fields to UPMC so that they may have sports medicine and/or sports performance programs up to four times per contracted year. By the way, UPMC will have the right to charge a participation fee to attendees of these programs. We also have to display four UPMC banners throughout the year at various MTLSD sports venues.

UPMC Athletic Training and Physician Services

                                                                              ******

PlanCon Part I Submission – PlanCon Part I is a required submission for State review of the change orders in a construction project. There are two sets of Part I submissions for Board consideration and approval as recommended by our architect. The Superintendent recommends approval of these submissions. 

PlanCon Part I Submission: RESOLVED, That the Board approves submission of PlanCon Part I in the forms presented.

                                                                           ******

And finally:

Change Orders for High School Renovation Project –Change orders for Board approval for the month of July totaling $37,464 from the Contingency and $8,282 from the Capital Budget have been reviewed by the architect, PJ Dick and the District administration: a. GC-116-285 to Nello for $37,464 for roof, window, wall and concrete work, b. ME-34-286 to McKamish for $2,235 for panels, and c. ME 35-287 to McKamish for $8,282 for ductwork for a fume hood. The Superintendent recommends approval of these change orders. 

Change Orders for High School Project: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the following list of change orders for the High School Renovation Project: a. GC-116-285 to Nello for $37,464 for roof, window, wall and concrete work, b. ME-34-286 to McKamish for $2,235 for panels, and c. ME 35-287 to McKamish for $8,282 for ductwork for a fume hood.

Where is the $2,235 for panels coming from? They forgot to tell us.

Update July 24, 2015 6:55 PM According to the PG's Mt. Lebanon high school renovation on track to 2016 completion, the Board decided to table the vote for the credit card services.

District administrators negotiated with DonorPro, a nonprofit company that already provides software for the capital campaign, to incorporate a software addition to process credit card payments. The cost would be $10 per month, plus 2.89 percent of the amount of each transaction and an additional 20 cents for each transaction. 

After board member Dan Remely expressed concerns about security and whether the rate is optimal, the board directed administrators to seek more information about options.

School Board Meeting update UPDATED

I have uploaded the podcasts from last night's Construction Update and the Combined School Board meeting. For the purpose of discussion here, I am only going to share some highlights. Please listen or watch the meetings for further information.

The 2013 Liened Properties list was approved for public viewing last night. Bill Cooper asked where the lists are published. President Cappucci said that in the past, the media would publish portions of the list, but that hasn't happened in quite a while. She failed to mention that I have been publishing the lists here. I filed a RTK for the list last Friday.

The Board knows that we are going to run out of the contingency fund. They have moved funds around to allow for flexibility.

The trophy case bid was approved last night for a total of $52,000 after much deliberation. The case is to be 74' long x 8' high x 16"-24" in depth. Larry Lebowitz said that we NEED a trophy case. Dan Remely pointed out many inconsistencies in the bid, yet the Board voted it through with Bill Moorhead and Dan Remely voting NO. It is sad that the bulk of the discussions at any board meeting are about construction. Aren't these people charged with the education of our children?

The artificial turf maintenance agreement was approved. Timmy said that the school district maintains Middle and Wildcat Fields by spreading infill and lining the fields. District costs are currently $129.37 in labor weekly for 30 weeks and infield mix and field dry runs about $1400 for a total for $5731. The School District uses those fields for Baseball. The labor cost for the turf would be $4331. Remely was the only one who voted NO.

The pool railing was brought up again by a resident. 24" is the current height of the railing. It meets all codes. Because of community request, it will be raised to 46" and will be completed before the beginning of the school year.

Update July 22, 2014 9:19 PM Mt. Lebanon School District to maintain turf fields

What exactly happened at the school board meeting?

I have had a couple of emails asking about David Huston's comment at last night's school board meeting. Here is part of one email exchange.

Could you (or if you'd prefer, feel free to forward this to Mr. Huston) explain, in simple terms, the Sunshine Act and how it applied to the meeting last night from your perspective? Thank you so much!

 My response:

Thank you for contacting me through the blog. I have copied David Huston on this email. Do you know that the podcast is available here? http://www.lebocitizens.com/Lebo_Citizens/Podcasts/Entries/2012/7/16_School_Board_Discussion_Business_Meeting.html

For information on the Sunshine Act, I have this link on the website as well. http://www.elc-pa.org/pubs/downloads%202009/GettingInformationAboutYourSchool6-09.pdf under http://www.lebocitizens.com/Lebo_Citizens/Right_to_Know.html 

I found this website too that might be helpful. http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/Pennsylvania_Sunshine_Act 

Here is what I see as the issue about having the meetings combined. The first meeting in the month is when there is discussion about an agenda item. The school board is very tight lipped about their agenda items. These issues were introduced (briefly) and then voted upon all in one motion. David is absolutely correct in what he said.

David Huston explained it much better.  Here is what he wrote:

I wish more people tried to find out what is going on. I could sit here and type many hours all about the Sunshine Act, but for now I will attempt to clarify what I said last night.

Our lawmakers crafted the Sunshine Act specifically to allow folks to not only see government function but also to allow and encourage public participation. It's why we go to government meetings, and gets to the very reason America its allegiance with Great Britain. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the oldest civilized government on the North American continent, with the Pennsylvania State Constitution the first contract with its citizenry.

From the Sunshine Act, 65 Pa.C.S.A. Section 702:
The General Assembly finds that the right of the public to be present at all meetings of agencies and to witness the deliberation, policy formulation and decisionmaking of agencies is vital to the enhancement and proper functioning of the democratic process and that secrecy in public affairs undermines the faith of the public in government and the public's effectiveness in fulfilling its role in a democratic society.

It is truly a shame the Sunshine Act is not adhered to or enforced the way its authors intended.

Much more information is available at:
http://www.pafoic.org/

Typically the School Board has two open meetings a month. One is the Discussion meeting, and the second one is the Business meeting. This month we had a "Combined" meeting. I do not think it is possible to have a combined meeting. You can only have one meeting, then another; but never two combined into one.
So, we either:
1) Skipped the Discussion meeting this month and only have a Business meeting
  -- This is what I think actually happened
or
2) Go along with what Posti and the agenda stated and have both meetings at the same time.
  --It is not possible for this to happen, but it is my premise for the Sunshine Act violation

Here is the part of the Sunshine Act our School District violated last night:
65 Pa.C.S.A. Section 708 (6)(b) Procedure. The executive session may be held during an open meeting, at the conclusion of an open meeting, or may be announced for a future time. The reason for holding the executive session must be announced at the open meeting occurring immediately prior or subsequent to the executive session.

The District, according to both the agenda and Posti, held both the Discussion meeting and the Business meeting at the same time. The open meeting occurring immediately subsequent to the executive session was the Discussion meeting. The District started the second open meeting, the Business meeting, without announcing the reason for the executive session during the Discussion meeting. The District did not announce the reason for holding the executive session at the open meeting occurring immediately subsequent to the executive session.

I am not a lawyer, but I know when the District is violating the Sunshine Act.

David Huston

I am aware that some school districts may eliminate some summer meetings, but to me, that is not an excuse. Historically, the summer is when things get slipped in here in Mt. Lebanon. If you listen to Josephine Posti, she was encouraging the media to request the list of liened properties for the 2011 tax year. I filed a RTK but I have mixed emotions about publishing it, if or when I get my RTK granted. This is not transparency in my mind.  How many of the liened properties are due to bankruptcy? Josephine seemed delighted to publish the list. How about sharing the salaries? How much did Timmy get? Or Jan?  What exactly was the technicality regarding Jan's salary? How about some transparency there, School Board? To sound excited over people's hardships sounds a little twisted to me. I know that I may be sounding hypocritical since I wanted to publish the scofflaws, but I think this is different.