Tony, please return the commissioners' brains

The agenda for Monday's Commission meeting has been posted on the municipal website. The commissioners will be approving more "sharpshooting" for 2017.

John Bendel is introducing the following action item:

Consideration of a contract for a white-tailed deer management program utilizing sharpshooting. 

The Municipality has been developing a multi-faceted deer management program. Mt. Lebanon has an archery program that utilizes trained and licensed volunteer hunters to remove deer on private and public property. The archery program will continue through January 28, 2017. The Municipality desires to follow-up on the archery program with sharpshooting under a PA Game Commission political subdivision permit. This activity would occur from February 1, 2017 to March 31, 2017. 

The Municipality received a proposal from White Buffalo, Inc., to provide deer management sharpshooting services. The municipality has also received a Deer Control - Political Subdivision Permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission permitting this activity. White Buffalo’s proposal contains two options: one to remove up to 100 deer at a cost of $83,477 or an option to remove up to 150 deer at a cost of $132,038. 

Recommended Action: Move to authorize the execution of this agreement with White Buffalo, Inc., for the removal of up to 100 deer at a cost not to exceed $83, 477, subject to the approval of the Manager and the Solicitor.

Here is what we know. Or don't know.

• Tony DeNicola finished earlier than expected this past March. He couldn't find any more deer.  
• Mt. Lebanon went to the Court of Common Pleas over the privilege of killing deer in Twin Hills Park, a 25 acre property owned by Mt. Lebanon which is situated in Scott Township. Mt. Lebanon won, but there were restrictions including the use of sharpshooting in Twin Hills. Either Mt. Lebanon honors that agreement, or Mt. Lebanon goes back to court for the use of high powered rifles in Twin Hills.
• Archers have killed half as many deer this year, even with the additional 25 acres in Twin Hills.
• The archery program concludes on January 28, 2017.
• The commissioners will not have an official count of kills until February.
• Either there are bogus accident reports being filed with MLPD, or we have sloppy bookkeeping. The numbers don't add up. Increased reported collisions vs. lower accidents vs. fewer dead deer pick ups. 
• We do not know what type of bait or system that White Buffalo will use to distribute the bait. I was told that Tony's bait is proprietary. Evidently, Tony owns the patent on corn and apples. I thought God held that patent. Allegheny County Health Department is ready to fine Mt. Lebanon since ground feeding is not permitted.

Look Up Lebo, Deer, Parking, and 09 2016 Expenditures

The September Expenditure list has finally been released to the public.

I had filed a Right To Know asking for receipts from the Look Up Lebo campaign. All receipts, which were available, were given to me, and I shared in my September post, Look Up Lebo Update.

The costs of the Look Up Lebo stickers and flags are included in the September Expenditure list.

3,000 Look Up Lebo stickers cost $927, while the flags cost $879.66. The audio and video cost $449. According to Susan Morgans' report, the stickers and flags expenditures should be covered by the $5,000 grant from Allstate.

Compare Mt. Lebanon's investment for pedestrian safety to the $9,000 handed over to Tony DeNicola for the 700-900 deer his Cornell buddy estimated we had. Tony says that the hunters killed about half as many deer as last year. He isn't comparing apples to apples because this year's numbers should include kills from the 25 additional acres in Twin Hills Park, located in Scott Township.

So while the pedestrian safety budget is nominal, the commissioners are gearing up to spend another $80,000 to kill our stealthy deer. It is to "reduce deer/vehicle collisions." Of course. But as Commissioner Dave Brumfield realized, there is no way to measure the success of the killing program through tracking accidents. Accidents have declined. Dead deer pick ups have declined. Yet reported collisions have increased more than 80%. Either the deer are being raptured, or false collision reports are on the rise.

I have also noticed that Mt. Lebanon charges itself $1,040 per month for staff parking. I don't quite understand that concept. Would someone please explain to me how an entity can charge itself and then claim it as income?

Cell phone expenses are outrageous as usual.

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.

Let's play a game

What do the Mt. Lebanon Police Department, Mt. Lebanon Commissioners, Mt. Lebanon School Board Directors, and possibly Mt. Lebanon teachers and Mt. Lebanon Fire Department have in common?

Here are a couple of hints:

Paul Ryan and Capitol Hill interns

House GOP

Three Ways a Trump Presidency Could Be Good for American Education

Dr. Jason Margolis, Professor of Education; Chair, Department of Instruction and Leadership in Education at Duquesne University; and Lebo Citizens reader has published this commentary in Teachers College Record titled, "Now What, Professor? Three Ways a Trump Presidency Could Be Good for American Education."

Now What, Professor? Three Ways a Trump Presidency Could Be Good for American Education by Jason Margolis — November 14, 2016

This commentary outlines three related ways that a Trump presidency could be very good for American education and how education professors can play a more important role in educational improvement.

As I write this, just hours after Donald Trump was declared president-elect of the United States, my social media feeds are lighting up with despair. Many of my friends and colleagues across the country on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs are expressing deep anxiety, shock, and anger at the outcome of the election.

But these electoral results are what they are. The question is: Now what, professor? In this commentary, I will outline three related ways that a Trump presidency could be very good for American education and how education professors can play a more important role in educational improvement.

Read more: http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=21736

If anyone has info on this, please contact MLPD

I received an anonymous email today. The parent didn't want to provoke them, in case there was intent to harm, and later contacted the police and the school district. Here is the email:

I am a mt Lebanon parent with a daughter in Kindergarten. Today while 
playing with my daughter on the Lincoln elementary school playground three 
kids in dark clothes, wearing hoodies walked in a slow intentional way 
through the playground. One was wearing a clown mask that looked like it 
was purchased at a Halloween store. The other two were wearing
Gas masks. I approached the individual wearing the clown mask, asked her if 
she was aware of the threat, and asked her to leave the park, and not wear 
the mask near a school or park in the future. She was resistant and 
defensive and may not have left if I did not reference the raised police 
awareness. They appeared to be young teenagers. The clown was a female. The 
other two appeared to be male.


Please contact Mt. Lebanon Police by dialing 911 or emailing the police chief at alauth@mtlebanon.org if anyone has more information concerning this situation.

Lebo Light Night

Light Up celebrations will take place this Thursday from 6-9 PM. Following is a schedule of activities in Clearview Common:

• 6-6:30 PM - Triple Trio and MTL Men's Chorus
• 6:30-7 PM - Center for Performing Arts
• 7 PM Tree lighting and arrival of Santa

In addition, there will be horse drawn carriage rides from 6-8 PM, a model train display and other performances throughout the district.

Ewwww. UPDATED 2X

Update November 12, 2016 4:26 PM Allegheny County Health Department inspection reports for
Jefferson's and Mellon's cafeterias are here:

Jefferson Cafeteria

Mellon Cafeteria

Update November 14, 2016 6:16 AM As a point of reference, I am including Upper St. Clair High School's inspection report. Upper St. Clair High School ACHD Food Safety Assessment Our high school cafeteria state of the art equipment should still be under warranty since it is brand new. Also, USC High School does not have a balance due.

Archery successful? Not so much.

It looks like the archery hunt isn't going as well as expected. Even with the additional 25 acres in Twin Hills Park located in Scott Township, archers killed half as many deer as last year at this time. Oh wait. Did I say "killed?" I meant "harvested." That was the grim news from Tony DeNicola.

The numbers aren't adding up though. The number of reported collisions involving deer has increased more than 80%, from 49 to 89 this year. Yet, the number of reported accidents has decreased from eighteen to nine this year. Dead deer pick ups has decreased 31%, from 96 deer to 66 deer this year. Commissioners are confused as to why the numbers don't match.

DeNicola went on to say that he is "getting phone calls from homeowners who are just inundated with deer." One Morrison Drive resident claims to have 5-10 deer visit daily, even though Twin Hills Park is within a quarter mile.

Dave Brumfield wanted to know how to measure the success of the program, if not accident rates. “You may have to kill 300 or 400 deer in order to get a reduction in accidents this year," DeNicola said.

Of course Michalina, known for her killer cake (Read about her at lebomag.com), wants more killing for three more years. One year of data isn't enough, in her mind.

Tony DeNicola said the municipality may have to reconsider its strategy. Commissioners will be considering his proposal at the November 28 meeting.

Mt. Lebanon advised to rethink deer archery, sharpshooting cull

What is it with our public information officers?

Parents outraged after 9 students suspended for drinking at HS football game

The superintendent and school board directors refused to speak to the reporter about this. What about Cissy Bowman? Isn't she supposed to speak to the media? That's her job. What is it with our public information officers?

The policy on alcohol is here. Policy JICH Student Drug and Alcohol Offenses Evidently, parents are outraged because Mt. Lebanon is enforcing their policy. Entitlement at its finest.

Had enough of her ineptness yet?

State Representative Dan Miller is going to love this.

Mt. Lebanon is now promoting Levi jeans.

Go to:

http://www.mtlebanon.org/30/Voting-Information

and click the 42nd state legislative district link.

But wait. There's more!

Bad link to the school board.
Bad link to the League of Women Voters.
And a bad link to the Allegheny County Elections Division website.

That trip to New York City sure is paying off!

Update November 8, 2016 9:42 AM The links have been corrected. I wonder how much we are paying in total salaries for IT and the Public Information Office.

From:	egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To:	kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Cc:	commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>; philip.weis <philip.weis@bipc.com>;
Subject:	Re: Tired of her ineptness yet?
Date:	Tue, Nov 8, 2016 9:34 am

---

Keith,

I'm happy to report that all of the links have been corrected. With today being Election Day, I am relieved that your Election page is up and running. Donald Trump is getting quite a bit of press saying that the Election is rigged. At least in Mt. Lebanon, we can be proud to say that everything is working just fine here.

Elaine

-----Original Message-----
From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>; philip.weis <philip.weis@bipc.com>
Sent: Tue, Nov 8, 2016 9:03 am
Subject: Re: Tired of her ineptness yet?

Hi Keith,

I am well aware of what causes a broken link. I also know about pasting in a web address still left on my clipboard. In fact, it happened to me. I was shopping for Levi jeans while I was working on my blog and accidentally pasted the link to my shopping page. It was pretty embarrassing. That is why I always check my links as I am writing, just to make sure they are the right links. I also test for broken links too. But what do I know? I'm not the professional. I'm just a volunteer with no professional training; a blogger who will be starting her seventh year at the end of this month. It would be so nice to have a team to help me, but I get by. 

Elaine Gillen

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; Rep. Dan Miller <repmiller@pahouse.net>; Philip Weis <philip.weis@bipc.com>
Sent: Tue, Nov 8, 2016 7:52 am
Subject: Re: Tired of her ineptness yet?

Good morning Elaine,

Broken links are not uncommon as I am sure you are aware. There are multiple causes as identified by a quick google search:

• External websites that have gone offline
• An orphaned link which points to an old page on a site that no longer exists on the server, usually caused by changes in file name or structure
• Misspellings in the link
• The person maintaining the website made a mistake

Information is placed on the municipal website by a number of employees. When a broken link or other issue is brought to the attention of the municipality, staff works quickly to address the issue. The majority of the content is posted and maintained by I.T. and the Public Information Office.

More importantly just because someone makes a mistake it does not make them inept, it makes them human. Ms. Morgans is well respected in her field and the municipality is fortunate to have her in her position. 

Keith

On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 11:08 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:

Oops! Three more bad links.

That trip to New York City sure is paying off.

Elaine Gillen

-----Original Message-----
From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>
Sent: Mon, Nov 7, 2016 10:37 pm
Subject: Tired of her ineptness yet?

State Representative Dan Miller is going to love this.

Mt. Lebanon is now promoting Levi jeans.

 

Go to:

 

http://www.mtlebanon.org/30/Voting-Information

 

and click the 42nd state legislative district link.

Elaine Gillen

--

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

Releasing old posts again

I have republished about a hundred posts that were up when the blog was private. I had forgotten about this one and thought it would be timely with Election Day on Tuesday. The constable was called because of me

So will there be a third board? We have Gary Johnson and Jill Stein running for President. Where will Tommy Dunn let their supporters post signs, since he is the Sign Police? He wouldn't permit me to post my sign on the Republican bulletin board even though I am a Republican. Or it may be because I am not one of the good old boys, not sure. Certainly they pose as much of a threat to Trump as I did to Steve McLean, which was zero.

I hope someone challenges the Mt. Lebanon Republican Committee chair this year. Nobody has ever been able to prove that the "Republican" bulletin boards were provided by the MLRC. The school district was not able to produce any information.

Watch out, Tommy, there might be a woman president in your future, since there are two women running for President this year. Guard those bulletin boards!

Another done deal

There is a public hearing at MONDAY's commission meeting on the budget and proposed tax increase.  But on the same agenda, Mr. Fiscally Responsible Republican Commissioner will be introducing Bill 8-16, fixing the tax rate to 4.76 mills. It is currently 4.51 mills.

Please explain why the commissioners are going through the motions to have a public hearing when they are introducing ordinances to raise the millage. Another dog and pony show. While Mr. Fiscally Responsible McLean ran to kill deer, he also ran to be fiscally responsible and not raise taxes. Why do you uphold the first part of your platform, but not the second, Steve? Both are proof that you are NOT fiscally responsible.

Think about that, when you listen to the charlatan pitch his sharpshooting plan during your commission discussion session on Monday night. He gets thirty minutes to discuss it, Steve.

Maybe the commission will consider hitting up the Virginia Manor residents for the next round of deer killing. Another option is to consider recruiting Mt. Lebanon's finest ladies and the three page poster child in this month's mtl Magazine to raise the funds.

None of the other honorees were fine enough for the photo

More corporate welfare

Hey, big-timer executive, if you want hunting in your yard - YOU pay for it!

Valleyview

Proposed Muni Budget suggests a .25 millage increase

Budget hearings start this week for the newly published 2017 Manager's Recommended Budget.

Highlights include: 

• .25 millage INCREASE
• A significant "reinvestment" in the Public Works Facility, such as relocating the current indoor shooting range to a new indoor shooting range at the Golf Course, and various changes to improve delivery of services. Total cost: $6,385,000.
• Replacement of defrost system for both ice rinks. Total cost: $1,715,000.
• Replacement of a 15 year old pumper truck. Total cost: $575,000.
• Hiring freeze for 2017
• No change in the rain tax*
• The Recommended Budget includes a current funding level of $70,000 for deer management. The budgeted amount may be reduced depending on the remaining balance of a 2016 budget of $100,970. All are above the line. Scheduled Replacement of Bleachers at Ball Fields - New code compliant aluminum bleachers will be installed to replace existing non-compliant units. All bleachers will be replaced over a three-year period.  Playground Fall Zone Replacement -Replace rubber fall zone material under the playground equipment at both the upper and lower playgrounds in Main park. Those are below the line and less important than killing deer.
• Fees are going up.
• Training is decreasing 17.6 percent in 2017. An expanded level was budgeted in 2016 for Public Works maintenance staff training. Police and Fire have been sending personnel for “Train the Trainer” to certify trainers within the department, reducing training costs. But the PIO is currently getting "training" in New York City.

Deer management is ranked at #150, with additional deer management at #158. See what has a lower priority in the total list of 267 line items starting on page 19 of the Service Level Rankings. To be fair, anything ranked below #178 didn't make the cut.

Check out what our Public Information is costing Mt. Lebanon. See page 28 of the Recommended Budget. Budget for 2017 appears to have been cut by $4000. 

*Storm Management Fee