Mt. Lebanon is on a roll UPDATED 2X

Now that Mt. Lebanon has learned to appeal the PA Office of Open Records' final determinations, they are on to ignoring the PA State Ethics Commission requirements.

Besides not permitting residents to copy Statements of Financial Interests, besides ignoring the five day requirement to respond to Right To Know requests, besides accepting deficient statements of financial interests, and collecting those statements after the mandatory deadline of May 1, we now see how some are permitted to skip submitting those statements entirely. Included are some from those on the Hospital Board, the Pension Board, the Planning Board, the Library Board, the Zoning Board, Board of Appeals, Mt. Lebanon Civil Service Board, and the Economic Development Council. Not all members submitted their SFI, as required. Then there is the Sports Advisory Board, including Mr. and Mrs. Franklin [encouraged the commissioners to take me to court over the archery RTK] and Chip "He Who Shall Not Be Named" Dalesandro [see Bullied again], who arranged for $250,000 in donations and got the commission to spend over $750,000 for artificial turf, as well as the Historic Preservation Board, who spent $25,000 on a Virginia Manor remodeling guide. A member of the Historic Preservation Board frequently writes for mtl Magazine and gets compensated $25 per article as a "volunteer" blogger. She submitted this and will receive a $25 check for writing it.

mtl -- Mt. Lebanon Magazine

Yesterday at 7:38am · 

The Top 10 things you learn as a volunteer in Mt. Lebanon. Oh....number five!!!!

so moved | lebomag.com

7 If you believe your cause is the most important thing on the board agenda or in the municipal budget, you haven’t read the agenda or the budget

LEBOMAG.COM

Why nothing from the SAB or the Historic Preservation Board? It is who you know around here.

I never did hear from Bonnie Cross. I was able to get copies from another citizen. Here they are.

MTL 2016 Statements of Financial Interests for the year 2015

Dale Cowher is deficient plus submitted his SFI on May 12, 2016.
Michele Galati's SFI is deficient.
Andrew Kicinski submitted his SFI on May 4, 2016.
Christopher McMahon's SFI is deficient.
Mark Mistretetta submitted his deficient SFI on May 4, 2016.
Susan Morgans gets a 0% rate on her credit card. Isn't she special?
Christopher Musuneggi submitted a deficient SFI.
Samuel Ray submitted a deficient SFI.

And on to our commissioners.

• Dave Brumfield never signed or dated his SFI.
• Coleen Vuono shows no real estate interests and left her sources of income blank. When I was trying to verify her address when she was moving from her Ward 3 home on Woodland, and wouldn't disclose her new address, I came across an old address for 53 Academy Avenue. The Allegheny County website indicates the owner name is VUONO FAMILY 2008 IRREVOCABLE PENNSYLVANIA REAL ESTATE TRUST. Coleen also stages homes for real estate agents with Howard Hanna. See this post. Caught in a lie again.
• Kelly Fraasch resides at 53 Academy Avenue. She works for Howard Hanna. See Coleen Vuono.  Oops, Coleen!

Historically, Steve Feller would make pdfs and email statements of financial interests at no charge in a timely fashion, no questions asked. Vice President of the Commission Dave Brumfield is the one who has a problem with that. See his emails in the Lebo Citizens blog posts, After doing the math and Mt. Lebanon aims for transparency

I am slowly updating my blog to include past published posts. Mt. Lebanon will do as they want, when they want. The rules never apply to them. Now you know why Bonnie Cross stalled when asked for SFI. They were still coming in as late as May 12, 2016. But Mt. Lebanon is not held accountable. There is a new sheriff in town and our commissioners are asleep at the switch.

Update May 27, 2016 3:58 PM Additional email exchanges with Manager McGill:

From: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, May 27, 2016 11:10 am
Subject: Re: Statements of financial interests

Thank you Elaine. You as well.

Keith

On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 11:06 AM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:

Thanks, Keith. Have a good holiday weekend!

-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, May 27, 2016 10:42 am
Subject: Re: Statements of financial interests

Good morning Elaine,

The Municipality is the location where the State required Statements are filed.  To help facilitate filing, we will typically send the required form to the relevant personnel.  We also have sent reminders on occasion.  We generally do not verify the accuracy of the forms, as we do not believe we are required to do so under State law.

As far as who needs to file, that is set forth in the Ethics Act.  I will add that the one area where questions seem to arise is with our various boards.  The Ethics Act exempts members of advisory boards that have no authority to expend public funds and who cannot exercise the power of the Municipality.  This exemption encompasses many of our boards, as they do function in an advisory capacity only, and cannot expend Municipal funds.

Keith

On Thu, May 26, 2016 at 12:47 PM, egillen476@aol.comwrote:

Hi Keith,

What methodology is used when collecting SFIs from staff, boards, and authorities? Who is subject to submitting SFIs? 

Who verifies their accuracy or deficiencies?

I never did hear back from Bonnie as to when my RTK was ready for pick up. Fortunately, David Huston went up for me and waited twenty minutes while Bonnie printed them.

Elaine Gillen

From: Keith Mcgill [mailto:kmcgill@mtlebanon.org]
Sent: Friday, May 27, 2016 10:46 AM
To: Nicholas Meduho,
Subject: Re: sfi forms

Good morning Mr. Meduho,

Mr. Brumfield will be submitting an amended form. As to other forms the Municipality is the location where the State required Statements are filed.  To help facilitate filing, we will typically send the required form to the relevant personnel.  We also have sent reminders on occasion.  We generally do not verify the accuracy of the forms, as we do not believe we are required to do so under State law.

Keith

On Fri, May 27, 2016 at 9:11 AM, Nicholas Meduho wrote:

Mr. McGill,

In reviewing the SFI forms that were recently submitted, many of them were filled out improperly but Dave Brumfield’s form stands out the most with no signature and no date.

Will he be asked to submit a new form or amend his current form? What about the other folks, especially the ones who claim no income from Mt. Lebanon in 2015.

As the manager, will you please take the lead on this and get this fixed.

Thank you,

Nicholas Meduho

Mt. Lebanon, PA

Update June 7, 2016 11:30 PM The following people didn’t report their income from Mt. Lebanon in 2015.

Susan Morgans $108,259
Aaron Lauth $118,166
Bonnie Cross $93,129
Nicholas Schalles $98,613
Steve Feller $159,574
Kelly Fraasch $3600
Tom Kelley $41,417
Steve Silverman $3600
Joseph Senko $9000
Nicholas Sohyda $118,932
Coleen Vuono $2400

After doing the math...

Remember this post, Mt. Lebanon aims for financial transparency ? Trying to get the Statements of Financial Interests from the Municipality has been quite an ordeal. A long and tedious email exchange with Bonnie Cross, Dave Brumfield, and Keith McGill followed. Click the link to read the email exchange - reading the BS from Dave Brumfield indicates that he doesn't read emails. I listed why the volume of RTKs have increased.

After doing the math,

I heard back from Manager McGill:

From: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Cc: Bonnie Cross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Sat, May 21, 2016 11:42 am
Subject: Re: RTK spam

Elaine,

There are 82 pages total minus 5 pages that you have received electronically for a total of 77 pages. The cost would be $19.25.

Keith

On Sat, May 21, 2016 at 4:02 AM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:

Keith,

You may remember the spam and duplications that I was charged 25¢ a copy in a RTK from January 2016.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9r_1biKte_bWmlYYzVSUG03ejA/view?usp=sharing

That resulted in Andrew McCreery issuing me a refund check - I'm guessing it was around $5.00. 

All that added work could have been avoided had Bonnie checked the copies, rather than relying on the copier to count the copies. 

Even the seventeen pages that are sitting in front of Judge O'Brien contained a blank page. He remarked about that at the judicial review. That blank page breaks down to costing me $235.29 in legal fees. How much is that blank page costing the municipality? 

Please end Bonnie's foolishness. Please give me an exact count of pages so that I know how much those public statements of financial interests will cost me in the end. Had these documents been scanned from the start, as they should have been, or you permitting me to copy them using my equipment as the OOR and Ethics Commission state on their websites, we would have been done with this matter by now. 

Elaine

-- 

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

To which I replied:

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: bcross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>; repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>; commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; nick; david
Sent: Sat, May 21, 2016 12:33 pm
Subject: Re: RTK spam

Boy, that was easy. Thank you, Keith. 

I will bite the bullet and PAY for those public statements of financial interests, which technically should be available for us to copy for free. I will scan them and put them on my blog, so that David, Nick and any others don't have to be charged for the same information. What a racket you guys have going.

I will be bringing this up to the executive director of the Office of Open Records at Rep. Miller's Right To Know Information Session scheduled for September. I hope you all are planning to attend. You need it the most.

This is criminal.

Elaine Gillen

As of May 25, 2016 at 7:07 AM, I have not heard back from Bonnie Cross as to when my copies will be ready. Still more to follow.

Mt. Lebanon wins UPDATED

Even after two final determinations that the PA Office of Open Records granted in my favor, Judge O'Brien ruled in Mt. Lebanon's favor. Unfortunately with no legal background, residents don't stand a chance when they appeal. You have to be a lawyer to win.

Gillen Decision

Mt. Lebanon lost on the personal security issue.

But won on the donation aspect. So call anything, no matter how small it is in value - a donation, and Mt. Lebanon can get away with anything. I absolutely hate it here. Probably the municipality is planning another dinner using taxpayers' money to celebrate and will invite all the "donors, " commissioners, Triple J, Dave Franklin, and Cori Viperman - all those who encouraged Mt. Lebanon to appeal.

This is a real blow for transparency in Mt. Lebanon. Unfortunately, it was a very expensive lesson for me.

I want to thank those of you who contributed to my fund. The rest of you, well...

Update May 24, 2016 7:39 PM As for the email in which a woman supported the deer killing, here is the judge's decision. Gillen Decision 2 I agreed to the redaction of the woman's place of employment. As respondent, I did not object to that redaction. Note to self: being reasonable gets me nowhere.

There goes productivity again...

"The Municipality" didn't waste time to waste time.

Right To Know Information Session

State Representative Dan Miller has invited us to a Right To Know Information Session. For those of you who are not on Facebook, here is the information:

Dan sponsored an event similar to this a few years ago with Nathan Byerly, also from the PA Office of Open Records. Nate made an excellent presentation. It was well attended by people from all over the area. This time, the Executive Director will be speaking with us. Mr. Arneson is quite familiar with Mt. Lebanon. I am looking forward to meeting him in person.

Back to public

Lebo Citizens has reverted back to being a public blog, putting the hundreds of posts that were published since going private, in draft form. The comments have been preserved, and I can go back to private status again at any time and the comments will not be lost. Members will not have to sign up again since Blogger keeps the list.

It has been almost a year since Lebo Citizens went private. I published a few posts that were from that period. Quite a bit has transpired since then. Of course, 219 deer were killed. All of "my" deer were killed. I haven't seen any deer since March. I won two appeals with the Office of Open Records, and because of that, Mt. Lebanon has decided to take me to court.

Encouraging the commissioners to take me to court were Cori Vipperman and Dave Franklin. Ms. Vipperman's libelous statements include threatening phone calls occurred, harassment, and threats made to families. Ironically, Ms. Vipperman speaks of harassment for daring to disagree. Reading the comments in any newspaper article pertaining to the killing of deer illustrates the maliciousness that anti-deer killing folks have had to endure for "daring to disagree."

Dave Franklin's letter to the commissioners, encouraging them to take me to court is available here. Mr. Franklin has spent an enormous amount of time checking the Lebo Citizens website from work since he sent that email.  The closer to the time to read the judge's decision, the more frequent the visits. Dave, it should be any time now. Talk about cyberbullying, you're one of the best.

Thanks for encouraging the commissioners to take legal action against me, causing me to hire an attorney at the cost of $4,000. I do have some friends who were able to contribute $2,000 toward the expense. I am truly grateful for them.

I want to report that the commissioners do not respond to any of my emails. Right To Knows are virtually denied every time. They put me through the wringer on other issues. I have had unwelcome visitors at my door. All because I dare to disagree.

Oh, I am back to not accepting anonymous comments.

PS This post is dedicated to Tom. Wow. It's been eleven years.

Wait a minute, wait a minute!

Hunters provide trees for areas damaged by deer in Mt. Lebanon

Planting sites in Bird Park and Twin Hills Park were chosen by the municipal public works department and by the Mt. Lebanon Nature Conservancy, whose volunteers are planting the trees this month. Municipal manager Keith McGill said the cooperation of the archers, Game Commission and local volunteers will help to keep the community’s green spaces healthy.

Mt. Lebanon was cutting down trees in Twin Hills last fall and late summer. We have goats eating invasives in Bird Park. Why do deer get blamed for everything? They have "attacked humans" according to the Public Information Office, but to date, the PIO writes that coyotes have never attacked humans in the entire state of Pennsylvania. 

Mt. Lebanon aims for financial transparency

Mt. Lebanon aims for financial transparency
The Almanac

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>; amccreery <amccreery@mtlebanon.org>; kmcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: repmiller <repmiller@pahouse.net>;
Sent: Thu, May 12, 2016 7:38 pm
Subject: financial transparency

Baby steps, but going in the right direction. How about posting the statements of financial interests online, like they do for state representatives? There will be no worries about scanning, damaging originals, charging for copies, filing RTKs, etc. It would be all good.

Elaine Gillen

The above email was sent after several days of emails and RTKs filed over statements of financial interests. Every year, public officials are required to file statements of financial interests a.k.a. financial disclosure statements by May 1 for the previous year. 

Here is what came back from the school district. 

Thank you for writing to Mt. Lebanon School District with your request for information pursuant to the Pennsylvania Right-To-Know Law.

On May 2, 2016, we received your request for all Statements of Financial Interests filed in 2016 by those who are required to file them.

Attached is a response to your request and any responsive documents.

Sincerely,

Jeanine Szalinski
Administrative Assistant/Open Records Officer/

Assistant Board Secretary
Superintendent's Office
Mt. Lebanon School District
7 Horsman Drive
Pittsburgh PA  15228
412.344.2077

2016 MTLSD Statements of Financial Interests No fuss, no charges, no delays. Even a polite note.

********

Here is what came back from the municipality for Requestor 1. Read from the bottom - up.

From: David Brumfield [mailto:dbrumfield@mtlebanon.org]
Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 2:21 PM
To: Requestor 1
Subject: Re: FW: Scanned from a Xerox Multifunction Printer

Requestor 1,

We do not have a procedure because we do not allow it. Further the state does not require us to. If they did I would fight it because we are responsible for those original documents. We cannot risk a resident losing, damaging or even destroying any such document in an attempt to copy it.

Dave Brumfield

On May 11, 2016 10:13 AM, Requestor 1 wrote:

Mr. Brumfield, 

As my Ward 4 representative, can you please find out, what is the procedure for taxpayers to come to the municipal building to make copies of documents that are requested through the right to know laws that are not in electronic format? 

It’s obvious that I have been ignored and lied to on this issue for quite some time now.  

Thank you, 

Requestor 1

From: Requestor 1
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 12:55 PM
To: 'Bonnie Cross' <bcross@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: Commission (commission@mtlebanon.org) <commission@mtlebanon.org>; kmcgill@mtlebanon.org
Subject: RE: Scanned from a Xerox Multifunction Printer

What is the procedure for me to personally come by to make copies using my own equipment as the law implies?

From: Bonnie Cross [mailto:bcross@mtlebanon.org]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 12:48 PM
To: Requestor 1
Subject: Re: Scanned from a Xerox Multifunction Printer

Requestor 1,

We have four in electronic format; the remainder are paper. 

SFI McGill 

SFI Weis

SFI Bendel

SFI Noble

One of the four -- the one for Mr. Weis -- did not attach properly.  I am attaching that one again now.  

On Tue, May 10, 2016 at 12:34 PM, Requestor 1 wrote:

Bonnie, 

I have only 3 SFI’s that you sent me. Is this correct? 

From: Bonnie Cross [mailto:bcross@mtlebanon.org]

Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 12:23 PM
To: Requestor 1

Subject: Fwd: Scanned from a Xerox Multifunction Printer

Requestor 1 

Please find attached a response to your RTK request. 

Regards, 

--

Bonnie Cross

From: bcross@mtlebanon.org
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 10:15:02 -0400
Subject: Fwd: Scanned from a Xerox Multifunction Printer
To: Requestor

Requestor,

Attached, please find a response to your RTK request.  I apologize for my tardiness in responding.

Regards,

-- 

Bonnie Cross

​RTK Officer​

So here is Requestor 2's experience:

From: Requestor 2
To: Keith Mcgill <kmcgill@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: Bonnie Cross <bcross@mtlebanon.org>; commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Tue, May 10, 2016 9:04 am
Subject: RE: RTK Request SFI

Mr. McGill,

I have not heard back from the municipality regarding my request.

From the Pennsylvania Ethics Committee website:

Statements of Financial Interests filed pursuant to the Ethics Act are public documents. The Ethics Act provides that all Statements of Financial Interests filed pursuant to the Ethics Act must be made available for public inspection and copying.

Here is the specific language of the law regarding the Statements of Financial Interests filed by all public officials in Pennsylvania:

§19.4.  Availability of Statements of Financial Interests.

(a) Statements of Financial Interests filed with the Commission under the act are available for public inspection and copying at a charge not to exceed actual cost at the office of the Commission in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., weekdays.

(b) A governmental body required to maintain Statements of Financial Interests shall make them available for public inspection and copying during regular business hours.

(c) Statements of Financial Interests more than 1 year old will be made available for public inspection and copying within 2 working days after the request has been made for the Statements.  The Statements will be kept on file for 5 years.

County and local officials and employees must file their Statements of Financial Interest "with the governing body of the political subdivision in which they serve or are employed. "

What part of "shall make them available for public inspection" don't you understand?

Requestor 2

---

From: kmcgill@mtlebanon.org
Date: Mon, 2 May 2016 07:38:55 -0400
Subject: Re: RTK Request SFI
To: Requestor 2
CC: bcross@mtlebanon.org

Good morning Requestor 2,

Bonnie Cross is the Right to Know officer for the municipality. I will forward your request to her.

Keith

On Mon, May 2, 2016 at 7:29 AM, Requestor 2 wrote:

See attached pdf and acknowledge receipt of same.

-- 

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

*******

So this is what I sent:

Keith, I have attached the RTK that was from 2014. There were 70 pages from Mt. Lebanon's former manager, Steve Feller's RTK response.

Then I sent:

Keith and Commissioners,

Attached are 57 pages of 2016 Statements of Financial Interests (of 2015) from the Mt. Lebanon School District. The RTK was granted in a timely fashion, within five days. All of the statements were scanned and emailed with no cost to the requestor.

Earlier today, I shared the municipal 2014 statements from Steve Feller, again sent within five days and no cost were incurred by the requestor. All were scanned and emailed.

Why are you making an annual request so difficult? These are very important documents and the request should not be taken lightly. 

I have attached my Right To Know request for Statements of Financial Interests.

Elaine Gillen

******

We'll see what happens...

Second time this year UPDATED 2X

This is the second of these emails received this baseball season. So much for the versatility of turf and added field use time. Is it for Star Wars Day? What happened to "Play even when it rains" ??

Subject: Fw: fields closed - turf @ mgr discretion - 4May16

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016, 5:43 PM, Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association - Carolyn Kernan <outbound-mail@siplay.com> wrote:

All fields closed today for MLBA. Games at the turf are to be held at the discretion of the managers and coaches. Use common sense regarding safety and playability. *** Please do not reply to this message as this account is not monitored *** Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association • PO Box 13068 • Pittsburgh, PA 15243 You received this email because you have an account with Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association. Sports Management Software Powered by Sports Illustrated Play

Update May 5, 2016 2:08 PM Trying to get an answer is an exercise in futility.

From: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
To: smclean <smclean@mtlebanon.org>
Cc: commission <commission@mtlebanon.org>
Sent: Thu, May 5, 2016 1:37 pm
Subject: Re: fields closed - turf @ mgr discretion - 4May16

Thank you for trying to answer my question, Steve. I do appreciate it, but seriously, I can read the MLBA notice as well as you can. This is the second time this year that the turf field was closed. I am going to ask my original question again. Why was the artificial turf field closed, when there were signs all over Mt. Lebanon saying that kids will be able to play even in the rain?

It wasn't raining, and yet Wildcat was closed. A second time.

Perhaps the Sports Advisory Board commission liaison can help here, rather than having you struggle with getting answers. It would have been much easier to have been able to send an email directly to the SAB, but the SAB commission liaison frowns upon government transparency. 

Please find out the reason for me, Steve. 

Thanks.

Elaine

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen McLean <smclean@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, May 5, 2016 12:42 pm
Subject: Re: fields closed - turf @ mgr discretion - 4May16

Eliane - by the info from MLBA notice,  it is referring to all fields are closed that are used by MLBA because of rain and wet conditions, with the exception of the turf field to be used at the coaches and managers discretion keeping safety and playability in mind. 

I hope this clarifies the situation for you.

Steve McLean

On Wed, May 4, 2016 at 9:54 PM, egillen476@aol.com <egillen476@aol.com> wrote:

I am desirous of an answer, Steve. We were told that we needed artificial turf so that kids could play "even when it rains." What is the reason that the turf is not being used?

Elaine Gillen

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen McLean <smclean@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, May 4, 2016 9:41 pm
Subject: Re: fields closed - turf @ mgr discretion - 4May16

Elaine - I can't determine if you're asking a rhetorical question or are desirous of an answer. My read of the email links is summed up by the ...." at the discretion of the managers and coaches. Use common sense regarding safety and playability"

Steve McLean 

On Wed, May 4, 2016 at 8:32 PM, 'egillen476@aol.com' via Commission <commission@mtlebanon.org> wrote:

Commissioners and Sports Advisory Board (gee, if we only had an email address for them),

Why were taxpayers forced to shell out $750,000+ so that kids can "Play even when it rains" ?? 

Elaine Gillen

Forwarded email:

This is the second of these emails we've received this baseball season.

So much for the versatility of turf and added field use time

Subject: Fw: fields closed - turf @ mgr discretion - 4May16

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016, 5:43 PM, Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association - Carolyn Kernan <outbound-mail@siplay.com> wrote:

All fields closed today for MLBA. Games at the turf are to be held at the discretion of the managers and coaches. Use common sense regarding safety and playability. *** Please do not reply to this message as this account is not monitored *** Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association • PO Box 13068 • Pittsburgh, PA 15243 You received this email because you have an account with Mt. Lebanon Baseball Association.  Sports Management Software Powered by Sports Illustrated Play

Update May 13, 2016 1:23 PM Heard back again from Steve McLean. A parent tells me that it is BS. It was not thundering that day. There was no reason to cancel any games on the artificial turf.

From: Stephen McLean <smclean@mtlebanon.org>
To: egillen476 <egillen476@aol.com>
Sent: Thu, May 12, 2016 8:05 am
Subject: Re: fields closed - turf @ mgr discretion - 4May16

Elaine,

I spoke with the Sports Advisory Board commission liaison regarding the field closure.  The fields were closed due to the rain and the chance of thunder storms and potential lightning.  So the grass fields were closed and the turf was to be used at the discretion of the coaches taking into general safety.

Steve McLean

From Fake Lebo: