The following may be hazardous to your health

I keep bringing up the capital campaign and somehow it is always brought back to the issue of artificial turf. So let's look where we came from, if we dare...

For now, Josephine Posti's Center Court blog is still available on Blogger. You can read it here. If she does delete it, I have it archived here. Also from 2013 is my blog post [6.9%] 7.46% increase for Timmy

Picture this: a school board sitting in executive session making very, very difficult decisions.

Where do we cut? We've already trimmed the fat; now we're cutting muscle. How do we pay for the remainder of the high school renovation? Do we wait for a green light from Pursuant Ketchum? Should we cut librarians? Guidance counselors? Custodians? Do we eliminate the community service coordinator? Should we charge students to park? What about increasing student parking fees? Oh, this is so hard! Shall we charge an activity fee? We need to make cuts as far away from the student as possible. How about a $30 million fundraising campaign? No...a $15 million campaign! Uh...$6 million fundraising campaign? Yes! That's it! But we still have to figure out how we are going to pay for the rest of the project. We can't have a referendum. Let's float a bond! We'll wrap it. Use capitalized interest. Don't use any money from the General Fund. It will only be $18 a month more. No, that's not right. We'll say that it is like no increase at all. No...We'll say it will be like two large pizzas. Wait a minute. There is a grievance that we need to address. If we ignore that, maybe it will go away. For sure, we won't budget for it. Uh oh, there is something else. PSERS. Darn that Corbett! It is all his fault. What to do, what to do? Let's come up with an early bird contract for our superintendent! Let's give him the same lame goals as he had in 2012-13 and 2013-14! Even better - let's give him a 6.9% 7.46% increase to kick off the 2014 contract. Perfect! But we have to do this quietly, because it will never fly if it gets out. Now what about the rifle range, the weight room, tennis courts, and Mellon Field? It should add up. We have TERC Investigations.

Here it is, Folks. Dr. Timothy J. Steinhauer's 2014-2019 Contract 

The picture I painted above was before the school board directors okayed a transfer from the General Fund in the amount of $923,520.02 IT ALREADY HAD. Josephine Posti and Elaine Cappucci, both on the capital campaign cabinet, were telling us that they were going to cut librarians, charge students to park at the high school, RAISE student parking fees, charge activity fees, cut guidance counselors, blame Corbett for everything, eliminate the rifle range, nix repairing Mellon Field, trimmed the fat and now cutting into muscle, while extending Timmy's contract - against the recommendation of the auditor general and give him lucrative annual raises.

Josephine Posti has the audacity to question a $700 donation to a political campaign made by an individual who also supports the MLFE and donates his time to the community - both municipality and school district. Read the crap that the Century of Excellence Capital Campaign "Co"chair has been writing about for years. The same woman who was praying for me. The same woman who is angry that her friend Mary Birks, pulled the reset presentation before the election like it is the fault of Riemer, Strotmeyer, and Diamond. Josephine Posti wanted to make cuts as far away from the student as possible, while wasting almost a million dollars from the General Fund - and she is the one who is angry. Unbelievable.

Accountable? Accountable? Are you kidding?

Unfortunately, I live in Caste, Cappucci, and Remely Country. Their loyal neighbors are displaying CCRB yard signs, as if to say, F.U. Mt. Lebanon.

It is mind-boggling how these four have the audacity to even be running for an office. They make the claim on their website that they are accountable. Accountable for what? I'm not seeing it.

The evidence is overwhelmingly against them. The Timmy Ticket is divisive. They didn't run with Riemer and Strotmeyer. Remely had a prepared statement containing personal attacks toward Riemer. Cappucci was trying to throw Strotmeyer under the bus during her five minutes of resident comments. These four are key players in the Million Dollar Heist. Then there is the $113 million high school renovation which our former superintendent AND a Allegheny County Common Pleas Court judge advised them to scale it down.

This group also hired Pursuant Ketchum TWICE (once for the Feasibility Study and then again for Counsel. Through a Right To Know, the PK proposal is here.)

Of course, there is that darn ethics issue. And the overpaid and underworked superintendent.

On the commission side, we have a guy who risks his life fighting fires, while his opponent, with so many connections, gets his day in court two days after the election for public intoxication and similar misconduct.

I don't understand how these people have the cajones to run for public office. What is even worse to me, is that Cappucci, Remely, Caste, Birks, and Grella are banking on the uninformed voters to elect them.

More coverage from the P-G

Debate continues over Mt. Lebanon schools' capital campaign

We hit pay dirt!

The discussion of the loan for the capital campaign was on March 11, 2013. The podcast is available on my website, March 11, 2013 School Board Discussion Meeting Podcast
If that link doesn't work, here is the podcast to download. Agenda is posted here and saved in Google Docs here.

Capital Campaign Counsel – The Board will discuss the engagement of Campaign Counsel for a potential Capital Campaign.

Who is Capital Campaign Counsel? Why it is Pursuant Ketchum with lead consultant being Elliott Oshry for the low, low price of $184,000 paid over two years. Where does it say all that in the meeting minutes from the following week?  Another Right To Know for the Consulting Services Agreement with Pursuant Ketchum, I guess.

God Bless Scott Goldman. He asked the important questions twenty seven minutes into the meeting. Jan Klein said that $200,000 may be used as seed money for the campaign. It would be done via a transfer of assets, something she does frequently. It would be listed as a loan to be paid to the General Fund. It would not be included in the base budget. No problem, because this campaign will be self sufficient and it would be paid off. Jan said that it isn't permitted unless it is a loan to be paid off! It was not voted on because Jan said they do that all the time. It would be in a separate fund. Yikes!

So the loan/investment seed money was never approved by the school board!!!