Kelly's and Matt's plan reduced to this

On April 19, 2012, the Commission held a special meeting to get input on parks/rec maintenance, and improvements. Link to special meeting. Unfortunately, the applause tends to get annoying.  According to the rules, applause is frowned upon and discouraged.
On April 23, 2012, the Commission held a public hearing on the unassigned fund balance for certain capital projects. Link to the Manager's Recommended Ranking of Potential Capital Improvements Kelly Fraasch and Matt Kluck put together a plan which was picked apart by Dave Brumfield and Kristen Linfante. It included a mower for the golf course to replace the broken one.  It was eliminated!  Turf war? includes a letter from Kelly Fraasch explaining the plan.  Dave Brumfield's plan is to turf Middle and Wildcat fields, which are the Municipality's finest fields. Here is what is left of the ordinance which will be voted on at the next meeting. http://mtlebanon.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/8935
May I remind everyone of an event which will be taking place in October? Plein Air Comes To Town October 2- 7; artists will be coming from all over to Mt. Lebanon neighborhoods to paint over 200 pieces of art and sell them. We will be able to request locations, in hopes that an artist chooses it. Do you think we should be spending money on artificial turf for fields that are already in great condition? That money will go far in beautifying our community for this event. Or we could spend it all on artificial turf. Your choice.  Please vote accordingly.

Yet another "story" about YSA's contributions

Remember what Jan Klein wrote to Richard Gideon in this post, YSA vs. MTLSD - Updated? Remember the YSA 990's that I linked to in the same post?

Then we have the Trib reporting in my post, NSF YSA Makes The Trib!

Then-school Superintendent George Wilson dismissed the amount owed in 2008 because of the group's insufficient funds; and the organization paid the $20,000 balance for 2010 last year.

Now we have Dr. Steinhauer reporting that the Joint Maintenance Agreement has served us well. In fact, the YSA had paid $30,000 in 2008.  Huh? Listen for yourself on the podcast.  It starts at approximately the 58 minute mark. June 11, 2012 School Board Meeting

How many more versions of the story are out there?  Someone is lying to someone somewhere!!!

I do want to thank those school board members who questioned Jan Klein and Dr. Steinhauer. It is appalling how we can't get a straight answer.

They sure like to take care of themselves...

The agenda for Monday's School Board meeting has some items listed that should be highlighted.
June 18, 2012 School Board Meeting Agenda

(6) Approval of Administrative Salaries: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the 2012-2013 list of annual salary adjustments for administrators effective July 1, 2012, reflecting an average increase of 3.0%.

*(7) Act 93 Administrative Agreement: RESOLVED, That the Board approves the Act 93 Administrative Pay for Performance Plan as presented effective July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017.

Whereas Upper St. Clair administrative salaries are frozen, here in Mt. Lebanon where students are charged for parking, our administrators get a 3.0% increase.  Nice, huh?
I believe Jan Klein falls under Act 93. I haven't heard the podcast yet, but is this an increase or a decrease?

And the infamous Nello Change Order has entered the picture again.

*(6) High School Project Change Order #GC-001: RESOLVED, That the Board approves Change order GC-001 dated June 7, 2012 to Nello Construction in the amount of $189,306 for the importing of new earth material and changes in waterproofing and grade beam work substantially in the form presented.

*All matters of new business were considered and discussed by the Board at its Discussion Meeting on June 11, 2012, except as noted (*).

Holy Cross Food Festival!!

Wednesday marks the beginning of the 40th Annual Holy Cross Village Festival. Lunch is available from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Dinner is available from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.

Parish Festival Menu 

Takeout orders can be phoned in (412.854.6001) or faxed (412.833.0982) Fax Order Form 11:30 - 7 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and can be picked up in the lower level of the Community Center.
For more information, visit http://www.holycrosspgh.org/festival.htm

Evening Entertainment

Kali Orexi!
(Bon Appetit or Good Appetite)

What is a sharpshooter?

At Tuesday’s Commission meeting during Citizens Comments, I said that Matt Santoni’s article Deer culling program weighed in Mt. Lebanon stated that the USDA was using sharpshooters, where in fact, the USDA hires biologists who are not sharpshooters. I got an email from an outraged reader who said that they are sharpshooters by definition since they were using high powered rifles and are hired to kill deer with as few shots as possible from a distance. I disagree.  If I gave a monkey a high powered rifle with a couple of bullets, that does not make him a sharp shooter. The reader went on to say that there are good sharpshooters and bad sharpshooters, which combines contradictory of terms. I decided to look up the definition of sharpshooter.  According to Merriam -Webster, a sharpshooter is defined as a proficient marksman. The second definition is a consistently accurate shooter (as in basketball).  Thefreedictionary.com defines sharpshooter as 1. One who is highly proficient at shooting and 2. The second military grade of proficiency in the use of rifles and other small arms. 

According to page 28 of the safety report http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nwrc/Safety_Review/content/Firearms_Report.pdf, one of the problems defined was that Wildlife Services was faced with the possibility of hiring biologists and field employees with little or no firearm experience due to the shortage of sharpshooters.  This should be a great concern to our commissioner who is a proponent of deer culling. She felt that we could have a deer culling in parks and not on private property.  That is a problem since I reside next to a park.  Kristen Linfante suggested using our parks which are not close to homes. I would be curious to know which parks fit that criteria. 

I hope the reader doesn't get upset when I make this statement.  The article says that the USDA uses night vision goggles.  Hate to say it, but I saw this with my own eyes. They use flashlights.  Sorry.

Don’t get me wrong.  We have a deer problem. Actually, last night, my dog was pushed down the steps and cornered at the bottom of the driveway by a doe who was protecting her newborn fawn. We made an emergency visit to the vet where my dog was treated for cuts and scratches, nothing serious - thank goodness. Two hundred dollars later, I still understand that the deer was doing what mothers do naturally. 

This brings us to the Deer Management Town Hall Meeting that will be held on Monday, July 9 at 7 p.m. in the Commission Chambers. All I hear is that something has to be done, but what?  Bring your ideas to the special town hall meeting. Please don’t suggest introducing mountain lions to the community.  Commissioner Brumfield cracks up every time he hears that option.  I agree, not a good option.

Matt Smith signs on to House Bill 737, Unpaid Parking Tickets Bill

A reader sent me this information today.

Dear Elaine,

Thank you for your honest blogging.  I’ve been reading it since Day One.  I  have been following the parking ticket issues closely.  I read where someone on your blog wrote:    

            Anonymous said...

While I think it's good that Dave and Dave and Bill and Bill and other are bring these things to light. Have you ever considered that the reason they don’t listen is because of the way you express yourselves? In the last 3 PA posts you have attacked the municipality, the fomer PA board, the Auditor, the solicitor, the employees. After reading the way they are treated I would ignore you too. Maybe if you were nicer they would listen. Maybe not.

June 11, 2012 12:16 PM

I’ve also read things on your blog about how people don’t do anything about the wrongs that are happening, so I decided to hunt for ways to expose the people whose unpaid parking tickets have caused this mess. The people who are responsible for not collecting the ticket money are not doing their jobs.  Therefore, I started to research parking tickets and found how millions and millions of dollars are not paid to towns and cities all over the Commonwealth and even the Nation.  If you break the law, you should have to pay the consequences.  I found House Bill 737 and saw that this Bill has been sitting in the Transportation Committee for 16 months.  Why would it be sitting there for 16 months? So I made calls to all the legislators, including Matt Smith at 412-571-2169.  He called me back today and thanked me for calling him about the Bill I found.  He called the Transportation committee where this bill is hung up at and “signed on to it” and is “pushing” for this bill to be discussed in committee.  He asked me to get the word out and said I could put it on the blog.  He said to post “Leadership” Mike Turzai’s office, at 717-772-9943 so that this Bill can get going.

If we are nice, we get ignored and the aggressive people get their fields turfed with our money while streets are not getting fixed, unless we float bonds. I hope your readers call Mike Turzai’s office.

Strike Three. You're Out! - UPDATED

This was submitted as a comment to an earlier post, but I thought it deserved its own space.

The YSA has failed to produce a field plan proposal once again! At the "Town Hall" meeting on April 19, they promised a plan by the next Commission meeting, which was held on April 29th...a YSA no show, “Strike one.” They then promised a plan to the Commission by the end of May.  “Strike 2,” they wiffed again. Last night, a special public Commission meeting was held to discuss various recreation plan proposals, and guess what, “Strike 3.” No YSA plan was available; but the Franklin's were in attendance, silent, in the very last row near the exit door. To me, 3 strikes and you're out...or, no promised plan and you forfeit the game. Either way, the YSA proves once again it is all no-show and no go!

I was at that meeting last night and posted the podcast this morning. I believe the YSA plan has morphed into the Dave Brumfield plan which is to turf Middle and Wildcat Fields for roughly $800,000. I don't quite understand the logic behind that since those two fields are the Municipality's best fields. Does it make sense to improve the good fields and let the bad fields get worse? Help me out here. I just don't get it.  This was part of Dave's plan for a bond. Kristen Linfante was the keeper of his papers. From what I understand, Dave's plan was submitted around 5:00 yesterday. The meeting started at 6:30. 

Kelly Fraasch wanted to reach out to all the sports groups and speak with them individually and not just rely on Dave Brumfield's input. Bill Lewis pointed out that of all the organizations, Field Sports are the only ones who don't contribute any funds and yet Dave's proposal is for fields. Kelly would also like to collect any outstanding commitments from the various sports groups.  I am so glad she is on that commission. Thank you, Kelly!

Update June 12, 2012 4:30 PM Please cast your vote in the new poll concerning artificial turf in Mt. Lebanon.  It would help the commissioners. Thanks!

Former Assistant Director of the Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority Speaks Out

It is finally time for me to enter the rarified air of the blogosphere.  I would like to start with answering a few questions related to the $800,000+ ticket issue and who may or may not be responsible. 

• Didn’t anyone else know about the problem of unpaid tickets? – Most Authority employees knew there was little effort in collecting unpaid fines, but they had little recourse.  Since their supervisor and Board members were the problem, and there was fear of reprisal, you get the picture. 

• Payments made by cash in the ticket envelope and dropped in the fine box may not have been marked as paid. – I am unaware of any tickets not processed properly.  The clerical staff responsible for entering and processing these payments, were capable and honest individuals.

• Mr. Brumfield was a former Parking Authority Board member. – Commissioner Brumfield together with the other four Commissioners took over in the final days of the Authority when the Parking Authority Board was dissolved.  During this short period of time, the Commissioners did not have much time to look into the former Authority’s problems.  Commissioners Brumfield, Kluck, and former Commissioner Miller should be applauded for their efforts in the consolidation.

• Were the problem individuals retained by the Municipality? – The Board, Solicitor, and Executive Director were not retained.

• Try Multi-tasking and looking down the road.  Instead of always looking back to blame people, how about looking forward and figuring out how to PREVENT it from happening again. – Excellent suggestion and I believe this is already under way with the Municipality creating an ad-hoc board to provide advice on the future of parking needs in Mt. Lebanon.  As far as looking back, how else can we learn from our mistakes if we don’t investigate? 

If anyone thinks that unpaid parking tickets are the only issue, they are sadly mistaken.  Here are just a few of the other negligent acts of the former Authority.

• Lease at 794 Washington Road – Over $25,000 lost in rental revenue, together with payments for utilities.  When the Municipality vacated the old Tax Office at 794 Washington Road at the end of November, 2004, The Authority had many months of advance notice.  Unfortunately, the Authority failed to successfully negotiate a new lease with the remaining occupant (SHACOG) for nearly two additional years.

• Lease at North Garage office space (Pepperberry’s) – Lost over $20,000 in lease revenue due to procrastination over negotiations.  LaPomponnee’s finally came to the rescue and offered to lease the additional space.  

• 424 Washington Road rent – The Authority failed to pursue over $11,000 in rent and utility charges by a real estate developer.  This debt is still outstanding today.

• Academy Avenue Lot – Significant cost overruns from the original estimates (I believe in the area of $800,000) in excess of budget for acquisition of properties and construction of the Academy Ave. lot. 

• Meter rate increase – Rates were increased in 2001, then rescinded in 2003, and reinstated in 2006.  Unfortunately, the new rates were not charged until starting in 2010, and continuing through 2011.  For each year the new rates were not charged, an estimated $100,000 was lost annually.  This would equate to approximately $700,000 total meter revenue lost. 

The way I see it, the unpaid parking tickets are just the tip of the iceberg.  As I said above, these are just a few examples of the past negligent acts.  We need to investigate now, and get the answers so this never happens again.

I made an attempt in 2006 to inform the entire Parking Authority Board of the various negligent acts by letter, but I received no response.  I had also requested over the past two years at Commission meetings, that the Commissioners get a copy of the booting/scofflaw list.  This list with the $800,000+ in unpaid fines was unfortunately not made available to Municipal officials until after the consolidation of the Parking Authority.

Dave Egler  

List of names with outstanding parking tickets delayed - UPDATED

I filed a Right To Know with Steve Feller for the list of names of those with outstanding parking tickets. You know, the ones that came to over $800,000 which the Mt. Lebanon Parking Authority failed to collect?
I heard from Steve today.

Dear Elaine:

Please be advised that my office with the Municipality of Mt. Lebanon (the "Municipality") received your Right to Know request (the "Request") dated May 31, 2012.  The Municipality is in the process of obtaining a legal review of the Request to determine whether the records you seek are "public records" subject to access under the Right to Know Act.  The Municipality expects to be able to respond to the Request on or before June 29, 2012.

Thank you

Steve

Stephen M. Feller

Municipal Manager

Personally, I think they should be public information particularly since the Municipality has made basic facts about it known to the public already. Perhaps they may be holding out to see what response they receive from the amnesty letters mailed giving scofflaws contacted from June 1 - June 20 to pay the original fines outstanding. My hope is that they don't want to release names now to allow a first response to avoid public embarrassment for those who comply. Only time will tell.

Update June 10, 2012 3:24 PM This was emailed to me and provides more information and background regarding the Parking Authority. I removed some information to protect this person's identity.

I wanted to give you some info about the parking authority, but I don’t want to personally put it on the blog. If you want to put it out there from a source feel free. Some of the things people have written are way off base and I am disappointed that they have been allowed to post them anonymously. There are so many miss truths on the last couple of blog about the MLPA I don’t know where to start.

First all of the stuff about Raja’s influence on the MLPA is crap. He had none... And Al Frioni could not have done things on his own. There were 5 members of the board. 2 were members of the Republican Committee, 2 I am not sure of party and 1 was on the Democratic committee... And at other times there were additional D’s, 1 a former commissioner and 1 a former candidate for Mt. Lebo treasurer. So for people to make this a R’s vs. D’s thing is a mistake. When you ask where the D’ were when all of this happened the answer is they were at the table. But no one seems to want to mention that on your blog.

The reason why Al, Raja and Joe were against the consolidation...into the Muni is that if you look what the MLPA paid its staff it was much less then what they are making now. The MLPA was non-union. So the maintenance people made much less then the Muni employees. The Muni would even have the MLPA do work to help save money from time to time. Also the MLPA did not have a pension plan. It had a Defined Contribution plan. That is why if you look at what the employees retirement plan was when it was shut down it is very small. They do not receive cash payments for the rest of their lives like the Muni employees. Now that they work for the Muni they will be entitled to a pension. So it actually costs the tax payers more money.

The MLPA never took tax payer money from the Muni. It operated on collection rent and fines. That is it. So no tax payer dollars were touched... The MLPA did have the Muni as a “Co-signer” on its bonds. But it never needed the Muni to step in...

As for the 800k in reserves that you somehow connected to the missing fines. That 800k came from the sale of property. So there is no connection between them.

As for Dawn Morrison’s hiring. There have been some really mean things said about her. First she did nothing wrong. She was hired as a part time employee. To a position that at one time had been eliminated but the board felt needed to comeback as the current staff was no longer able to complete all of its duties without additional staff. Her title does not reflect what she did. She was a Liaison to the store owners. Going out and talking to them and finding out what questions and concerns they had. She also interacted with the Muni so we had an open line of communication. In addition she was what I would call a floater. She filled in for other staff members when they were on vacation or out sick. After about a year it was determined that part time was not enough time to complete all that was involved so it was turned into a full time position. Now when it come to having to advertise the position, I frankly don’t recall why we were told it was not necessary to do. Just that it wasn’t. You would have to ask the solicitor about that.

Now the big question the 800k in fines. First let me tell you that I did bring up the question of fines on multiple occasions. I even asked about booting and towing... I can tell you that I was never told that there was this much in fines outstanding. If I had been, I would have done something about it. I can’t imagine the... board members knew either. The thing everyone needs to remember is that the board meets once a month. It relies on the Executive Director and the staff to run day to day operations and the Solicitor and Auditors to make sure that it has all of the needed information to make decision. How this got past the Auditors is beyond me. They had been the Auditors for several years so I would have thought that they would have noticed this kind of discrepancy. The board can’t act on information it is not given. I know it is an excuse, but it is also a fact. I also know that the Muni received a copy of the financial every month. So it got by them too. I am as interested as anyone in finding out what happened. If for no other reason but to clear the name of those...who were on the board.

NSF YSA Makes The Trib!

In today's Trib, Matt Santoni submitted Mt. Lebanon youth sports backers catch up on bills.

The municipality has been weighing whether to build more athletic fields or improve some existing ones with new drainage or artificial turf, and the YSA is working on some proposals of its own, said commission President Dave Brumfield. Meanwhile, the agreement is being renegotiated to reflect that teams have two fewer fields to use because of construction at the high school.

The YSA was supposed to come up with a plan at the end of April as announced at the April 19 "Town Hall Meeting." Then they were supposed to come up with a plan at the end of May. Do you think they will come up with their infamous plan on Monday evening at 6:30?

The whole Joint Maintenance Agreement is a farce. We have a sports association which doesn't seem to have a very good track record. The School District, from what I heard last night, can't trim the weeds and eliminate the poison ivy that is taking over the steps at Jefferson. And we have Jan Klein/Board bartering with our tax dollars.

Is this the end of Kossman project?

In today's Trib, Allegheny County backs financing plan for transit project, Castle Shannon voted unanimously to support a TIF (Tax Increment Financing) to develop the Castle Shannon T stop by Ice Castle. From a traffic standpoint, this would be a traffic nightmare for the Kossman property.

We were talking about developing the air rights over the Mt. Lebanon T stop. I wonder if this will affect our plans. I believe we're asleep at the switch. Castle Shannon is moving forward while we talk about turfing Mellon field and going after tax appeals.

The U.S. Flag at the Mt. Lebanon Veterans Memorial

The following letter has been submitted by frequent Lebo Citizens commenter and Mt. Lebanon resident, Richard Gideon. Mr. Gideon is nationally recognized as the nation's leading Vexillologist. Thank you for submitting this informative letter.

To the Editor:

This month we celebrate two important dates dealing with the Flag of the United States. The first one is 14 June, which is our traditional "Flag Day." The second is the anniversary of an act that established what form the flag should take. On 24 June 1912, President William Howard Taft signed Executive Order 1556, which for the first time in our nation's history established uniform specifications and a "pattern" for the U.S. Flag. To commemorate that event Old St. Lukes in Scott Township (330 Old Washington Pike) has graciously offered me space and time to present a Centennial Lecture on the subject, which will occur on the 24th of June, 2012, at 2:00pm - one hundred years to the date of the signing.  All Blog readers are cordially invited to attend. The lecture will be short, but I trust you will find it informative and the "visual aids" interesting. Admission is free.

The necessary research into this subject got me to thinking about the Mt. Lebanon Veterans' Memorial. I was curious about the height of the flag pole and the size of the flag to be flown from it. As this is a memorial to our military veterans and those killed in our nation's wars, I was reasonably sure the flag would be "G-spec" - meaning it would meet the current requirements that the U.S. Flag have an aspect ratio of 1.9:1; but I was curious about what size the architect had chosen. As it turns out, I was wrong to make that assumption.

About two weeks prior to the dedication ceremony, I made preliminary efforts to contact some of the people who were on the memorial committee, asking them about the height of the pole and the size of the flag to be flown. I heard back from two members, but neither one had the answers. One recommended that I contact the Mt. Lebanon PIO person, Ms. Susan Morgans. I anon wrote to Ms. Morgans, explaining to her that I was a professional Vexillologist and a registered Government Contractor, and my primary business was supplying military streamers and flags to military departments and organizations. I asked her for the height of the pole and the size of the flag. Her response was as follows:

"The architects are well aware of the specs and the flag and pole conform. Thanks."

Earlier I had been informed that the Marine Corps League had donated a flag for the Memorial, so I tried contacting that organization. Unfortunately, no one returned my phone call. I then turned to the Internet (which I probably should have done in the beginning), and after some searching found what I was looking for in the Planning Board Minutes of Tuesday, April 26, 2011. On page four is the following entry:

"Mr. Kreuthmeier said they reviewed a proposal with the Veterans memorial committee. The idea was to visually anchor the 45-foot tall flagpole with an 8-foot-by-12-foot flag. The obelisk will list the wars starting with the Revolutionary War at the bottom and working up. They were asked to provide a quote for the back wall of the memorial. They will also have a quote from Plato that will go around the obelisk."

A U.S. Flag of 8 feet by 12 feet (aspect ratio 1.5:1) is not a code flag. It is a popular commercial size, but for reasons which are better left to my lecture on the 24th, it is not an appropriate military ensign. I so informed Ms. Morgans, along with all of the correspondents to whom I had written earlier; including the Mt. Lebanon Commissioners, some members of the former Mt. Lebanon Veterans' Memorial Committee, and various other interested parties. Ms. Morgans replied, understandably, that she was only repeating what she had been told by the architect, and in replying to me CC'd all in my original message, adding the architect, Mr. Peter Kreuthmeier, to the list. Not long afterward, I received an E-mail from Mr. Kreuthmeier, who opened his message as follows:

"Mr. Gideon is absolutely correct.  We have been aware of these concerns since the inception, and indeed had every intention and made every effort to incorporate a G-spec flag on this project.  We did not do so for several reasons, some practical, some proportional, some manufacturing-related."

Mr. Kreuthmeier went on to say, in essence, that the biggest limiting factor was his desire to use a flag with a fly length of 12 feet, for reasons having to do with the layout of the memorial (including possibly interfering near-by trees), and ready-made flags meeting the U.S. Flag Code were not available in that length (to meet the code a flag with a length of 12 feet would have to be 6 feet, 3 3/4 inches wide). In my earlier message I had suggested that a proper flag for the pole would be a "G-spec" size 6 flag, measuring 8' 11 3/8" (or 8.94 feet) by 17 feet, but that size would have been too long by five feet. I then suggested that a smaller, size 8 flag of 5 feet by 9 1/2 feet would meet the Flag Code and be short of the desired length by only two and a half feet. Mr. Kreuthmeier said he had considered a smaller size in combination with the POW/MIA flag, and although he felt the combination didn't have the "vaboom" he was trying to achieve, he did say,

"In the interest of satisfying the question at hand, I'd presume you can bring some of these flags to the site and we can literally run them up the flagpole. I'd be happy to oblige if there is any interest."

Blog readers may wonder why any of this "flag business" matters, and that's a fair question to ask. Although the U.S. Flag Code "requires" that our national emblem be made in an aspect ratio of 1.9:1 (except for a few specialty flags), there are no penalties for not doing so, and even President Eisenhower felt that meeting the "spirit" of the law was more important than meeting its letter. But a properly made U.S. Flag gives a totally different "feel" to the viewer, as any member of the military can attest - and this is a memorial for Mt. Lebanon's military veterans and those killed in action.

Since the Mt. Lebanon Veterans' Memorial is not on military property the current 8' x 12' flag will likely stay, to vex, if you'll pardon the pun, Vexillologists (and veterans) such as myself. I did feel that a proper code flag would have been more fitting (and apparently, to his credit, so does the architect), but I do understand the problems involved with using one at the Mt. Lebanon Veterans' Memorial site.

I would like to publicly thank all of those to whom I wrote for taking their valuable time to respond to my concerns, even if we did not see eye to eye on the subject.  

Richard Gideon
USAF 1966 - 1970

YOU CAN HELP TO FIGHT CANCER

Enroll in the Cancer Prevention Study-3

The 2012 Relay For Life of Mt. Lebanon has been selected by the American Cancer Society as an enrollment site for the Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3). By joining CPS-3, we have an unprecedented opportunity to personally participate in the fight against cancer.

The first and second cancer prevention studies discovered the connection between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, and the connection between exposure to second-hand smoke and obesity in cancer diagnoses. It’s hard to imagine now, but there was a time when people didn’t realize that smoking cigarettes could cause cancer. By joining CPS-3, we can help the American Cancer Society understand other lifestyle, behavioral, and genetic factors that cause cancer, which will help to prevent the disease and save lives.

The American Cancer Society is enrolling men and women at select locations across the United States and Puerto Rico for CPS-3…men and women who want to see an end to cancer. The Mt. Lebanon Relay is one of only two enrollment sites planned for this summer in Western Pennsylvania. The CPS-3 Study, which is 100% funded by the American Cancer Society, is an example of how the money that is raised during the Relay For Life is used to fight cancer.

Enrolling in the study is voluntary and requires a long-term commitment. Those who choose to enroll will be asked to complete follow-up surveys at home every few years for the next 20-30 years. If you are between the ages of 30-65, have never personally been diagnosed with cancer, and are willing to make the required long-term commitment, consider enrolling in CPS-3 at the 2012 Relay For Life of Mt. Lebanon. Enrollment can only be done on-site during Relay and requires 30 minutes of your time to complete a questionnaire, have your waist measured, and provide a small sample of blood. You can enroll in the Study whether or not you are a member of a Relay For Life team.

Please consider enrolling and encourage those close to you to take part in this potentially life-saving study.  If you have a history of cancer, ask others to participate on your behalf.  Spread the word to everyone you know who would want to participate.

Cancer Prevention Study-3 Enrollment

2012 Relay For Life of Mt. Lebanon

Mt. Lebanon High School Stadium

Enrollment time:  Saturday, June 9^th - 1pm until 5pm

More information about the Cancer Prevention Study-3 can be found at www.cancer.org/cps3. If you have questions or are interested in enrolling on June 9th, please contact Teresa Donatelli at relayteresa@comcast.net.

Research today for a cancer-free tomorrow.

A great loss for Mt. Lebanon

KEITHLEY D. MULVIHILL

Age 55, of Mt. Lebanon, on Thursday, May 31, 2012. Beloved husband for 31 years of Donna (Colella) Mulvihill; loving father of Michael Keithley and Mary Katherine Mulvihill; brother of Marilyn (Gary) Gladowski, Sally (Robert) Morbeck, and Nora (Charles) Lersch; son of the late Bernard H., Jr. and Doris L. Mulvihill; brother-in-law of Virginia (Thomas) Trainor, Marilyn (Roger) Nemrava, and Barbara (Bob) Williams; also survived by numerous nieces and nephews. Friends will be received at LAUGHLIN MEMORIAL CHAPEL, 222 Washington Road, Mt. Lebanon, on Tuesday 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Bernard Church on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. Keith was a Cum Laude graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law where he was managing editor of the Law Review. He was a Partner with Rawle and Henderson LLP, where he practiced Civil Litigation. He was a volunteer coach for Mt. Lebanon Recreation boys and girls basketball as well as a volunteer girl's basketball coach at St. Bernard School. Keith served on the Mt. Lebanon Board of Commissioners from 2000-2007, performed pro bono work for the Better Business Bureau, and had served as a court-appointed mentor for the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. A Lector at St. Bernard Church for 22 years, he also served on Parish Council. He had achieved the prestigious Charter Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation and was a member of the Allegheny Chapter. He had been Treasurer of the PA Defense Institute and was chair of the PDI's Professional Liability Committee. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI), memo line – Keith Mulvihill, UPMC Cancer Pavilion, Suite 1B, 5150 Center Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15232 or to the Arthritis Foundation , Foster Plaza #11, 790 Holiday Dr. Pittsburgh, PA 15220.
www.laughlinfuneralhome.com
Send condolences at post-gazette.com/gb

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/postgazette/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=157887251

Wouldn't this be a cheaper way to go for everyone? UPDATED

At the May 29, 2012 commission meeting, a motion was tabled to pay the Schood District 17% of the actual costs billed by Diversified Municipal Services.

Consideration to financially participate in the Mt. Lebanon School District’s involvement in property assessment appeal hearings.

Diversified Municipal Services, Inc. (DMS) represents Mt. Lebanon School District at first-level Allegheny County property assessment appeals. DMS develops evidence in support of sustaining current values on owner-filed appeals and appears at hearings to present the evidence. DMS charges the school district $150 for attending a hearing at which the owner is present and $100 for appearing for a hearing at which the owner does not attend.

It is proposed that the municipality participate in funding this effort.

Recommended Action: Move to direct the Municipal Manager to reimburse the Mt. Lebanon School District for 17% of the actual costs billed by Diversified Municipal Services in representing the taxing body at residential reassessment appeal hearings for the 2012 appeal year.Move to direct the Municipal Manager to reimburse the Mt. Lebanon School District for 17% of the actual costs billed by Diversified Municipal Services in representing the taxing body at residential reassessment appeal hearings for the 2012 appeal year.

Diversified Municipal Services is owned by Dominick Gambino. Doing a Google search, I found this PG article about Mr. Gambino. Get ready: Assessments are coming next week

Mr. Gambino strongly differs, saying reassessment will lift an existing unfair tax burden on residents of poorer communities. Elected leaders, not a county judge, should have launched and directed the project on their own, he said. Mr. Gambino, who worked for the county for 25 years, now runs a consulting firm called Diversified Municipal Services Inc.

As Tom Moertel and Commissioner Fraasch demonstrated, there is an unfair tax burden on certain wards in this community. To counter this "unfair tax burden," Diversified Municipal Services provides this service to assist individual property owners, businesses and governments in analyzing property data in Allegheny County. http://countypropertyanalyzer.com/about.php

The County Property Analyzer is another service provided by Diversified Municipal Services, Inc. It can be a useful tool for individual property owners, businesses and governments in analyzing property data in Allegheny County.
Diversified has represented clients in literally thousands of property assessment appeal hearings. The County Property Analyzer unleashes the power for anyone to create sales comparison evidence for submission in property assessment hearings.

On their home page, Diversified Municipal Services reads:

Welcome to the County Property Analyzer

The product you are about to preview is an amazing tool for anyone in search of property information in Allegheny County. It will invite you through the door to explore the property data for over 550,000 properties.

But more remarkably, this tool allows you to analyze the data even further by exporting and saving the results of your search - over twenty-five different bits of information including property and mailing addresses, sales validation information, assessed values and numerous land and building characteristics - onto an excel spreadsheet.

The countypropertyanalyzer will also be a valuable resource in calculating property values by easily and efficiently helping you acquire comparable sales and granting you the ability to create and prepare sales comparison reports in a pdf format.

This is a product that has a wide variety of functions and uses. It was developed by the former Manager of the Allegheny County Office of Property Assessments specifically to allow the analysis of property data. Sales ratios studies, Comparable Sales Reports and mail merge capabilities are just a few of the possibilities.

Countypropertyanalyzer is a "must-have" for any real estate professional or property owner.

The best part about the product is the cost. Sign up for a "free week trial period" by clicking on "SIGNUP". After the trial period, you can continue having access to this fantastic tool for only $75 per month!

So my questions are:

1. Couldn't a homeowner use this service for free during the trial period for their reassessment hearing? 
2. Why is the District willing to pay $150 per assessment hearing when they could use this service for $75 a month?
3. More importantly, why is the Municipality are Commissioners Brumfield and Linfante willing to fork over 17% towards this charge?

Update June 2, 2012 6:15 PM With James Fraasch's permission, I am sharing a link to a letter he sent to the Honorable Senior Judge R. Stanton Wettick, Jr on May 30, 2012 concerning the reassessment. It just might blow your mind! It did for me. I hope our elected officials (at all levels) read it VERY carefully.