Dear Mt. Lebanon Friends & Neighbors,

Hope you are all doing well. As you may be aware, the 2010 budget was passed by the Mt. Lebanon Commission on Dec 14th. This budget did not impact services nor have a tax increase despite significant increases in costs. Similar to last year, I am providing an update with a “behind the scenes” look at what happened.

The manager’s recommended budget forecasts Mt. Lebanon to have “flat revenues” for 2010. Given the real estate tax and earned income tax shortfalls in significant parts of the county, having flat revenues shows the strength of our wonderful community. However, Mt. Lebanon has been faced with a significant increase in costs in 2010. Our pension contribution increased 64% over the last year with an increase of $878K, wages increased by $190K (due to collective bargaining contracts already in place for 2010) and medical premiums increased by $331K. The manager proposed allocating our excess fund balance towards addressing these costs for 2010 so that the budget could be balanced. Mt. Lebanon has had some windfalls this year that took this fund balance in excess of the recommended level of 10%; the manager’s recommendation was to use the excess to meet the cost increases for this year.

Since the release of the proposed budget, I have gone through the budget line by line and created recommendations focused on improving the bottom line. I worked with Commissioner Joe DeIuliis to recommend that the Cost of Living Increase for employees, not bound by collective bargaining, to be tied to the CPI (versus the recommended 3% which is considerably higher than the CPI which was indicated to be around 0.5% mid-year for our region). This, and other recommendations, collectively resulted in savings being implemented in the 2010 budget.

During the budget vote discussion, I expressed my concern that we were meeting the increased expenses from the fund balance. I would have preferred to implement organic changes (that I recommended) that could have funded these increases on a sustainable basis going forward. An example of a change that I pushed for was to not fill the currently vacant Finance Manager position and instead have Marcia Taylor (our Assistant Manager) take on these responsibilities and distribute her current responsibilities to others in the Municipality. As you may be aware, Marcia has a very strong financial background and this move would have saved us $141K annually. This was not implemented due to lack of support from the majority of the Commission. It is my hope that in 2010 the Commission will look for organic changes that can be sustainable in addressing the shortfalls.

In addition, in 2010, we need to look at creative ways to increase revenue and improve efficiencies to address anticipated cost increases in future (wage and benefit increases mandated by collective bargaining agreements, etc). As always, I welcome your feedback as we look to address these challenges in 2010. Please feel free to contact me via raja@mtlebanon.org, 412-341-7252 or www.joinraja.com.

Wish all of you and your families a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Thanks.

Raja
Commissioner, 1st Ward, Mt. Lebanon

Hi Everyone,

As you may know, when the budget was approved at the end of last year, the Commission did not include any 2009 road maintenance. Mt. Lebanon typically has been spending about $1M a year to maintain the roads (either via resurfacing or reconstructing depending upon the condition of the road). I am a big believer in “prevention is better than cure” and feel that we need to continue maintain our roads in a “preventative manner”.

The question of issuing bonds for road maintenance came up for the Commission’s consideration last month. I reached out to Willy McKain, Mt. Lebanon’s Finance Director, and he indicated that we retired $1.6 Million in debt principal last year and we were retiring $1.4M in principal this year. (The debt for the Library construction was completed and retired as of last year). Given that we are retiring about $3M in principal and have not issued any bonds last year, I have indicated support for up to a $2M issue (to take advantage of the amortizing the bond issuance costs over a larger bond value) for two years of road maintenance. The principle on the debt outstanding will still be at least $1M lower than it was two years ago, even after this bond issuance.

Continuing to keep our roads in good condition is a priority to me. Thanks.

Raja

Hi Everyone,

I am responding to rumors from a few weeks ago that the board appointments were made on partisan lines. My perspective is that the best candidate for any board or authority should be chosen irrespective of party. Let me provide a little background for those of you who are just hearing about this issue.

Mt. Lebanon Municipality periodically runs advertisements for board positions and specifies a submission date for any resumes. The advertisement ran several weeks ago and there were several resumes that were received after the specified date and the Commission made the decision to include these resumes by a 3:2 vote (the 3 Rs voted to include the resumes and the 2 Ds voted nay). It has never been my understanding that this date was a hard cutoff.

Just to verify my understanding, I emailed Marsha Taylor, Assistant Manager of the municipality, after the voting by the Commission and here are her responses based on evaluations over a 2 year period:

1) My Question: Whether resumes had been received in the past after the deadline?
Response from Marsha Taylor: YES. Of the 62 applications that can be tracked, 8 applied after the due date.
2) My Question: Whether resumes received after the deadline had been considered by the Commission?
Response from Marsha Taylor: YES. In past years, as in this year, if an application was received prior to the date the Commission considered filling the vacancy, it was added to the list.
3) My Question: Whether anyone who applied after the deadline had been appointed?
Response from Marsha Taylor: YES. Of the 31 appointments in this time frame, 3 appointments were made of applicants after the due date.

The rumors indicated that the Republican Commissioners were partisan in their selection. The implication to me is that the Republican Commissioners are only selecting Republican candidates. Let me rebut this and provide some example of past appointments. I supported Mrs. Bonnie VanKirk (who ran on the Democratic ticket against me for Commissioner in the 1st Ward) and Joe DeIuliis (a Republican Commissioner) supported Mrs. Laura Reinhart (whose husband ran on the Democratic ticket against him for Commissioner in the 5th Ward, and I understand that Mrs. Reinhart is part of the Democratic Party of Mt. Lebanon). Since three endorsements are typically needed for a selection, the Democratic Commissioners endorsed these candidates and both Mrs. VanKirk and Mrs. Reinhart are now in the appropriate board/authority for which they applied.

Maybe the reason for the “hullabaloo” on partisan appointments to the board was that one individual, Dale Cowher, applied after the date specified in the advertisement. For those of you who are not aware, Dale Cowher is the endorsed Republican Candidate for Commissioner in the 4th Ward. I am presuming that the Democratic Commissioners voted for Mrs. VanKirk and Mrs. Reinhart because they knew them and felt that they are qualified for the board positions. I know Dale Cowher and supported his appointment since I felt that he is extremely well qualified. Understanding this situation, I requested that we delay the appointment to the position to which Dale Cowher had applied so that an advertisement can be re-run as appropriate. If any of you want to validate Dale’s qualification for yourself, I suggest that you reach out to Dale Cowher directly.

To conclude, I re-emphasize my position that the best candidate must be chosen for any appointment to boards/authority. If a submission date is to be interpreted as a hard date, with no extension, then the Commission must go against past tradition and make this explicit going forward. I hope this explanation will assist in quelling any false claims and implications from continuing to be propagated.

As always, I appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

Raja

Hi Everyone,

It has been a little while since I have posted any comments on my blog. I have been traveling a good bit which has required me to focus most of my time, including weekends, catching up on my regular work load.

With regard to the recent traffic conversations, I thought I would share, in a lighter vein, a “speed control device” emailed to me by a resident when the Commission was reviewing the Mapleton traffic issue. From a broad perspective, I think it is important to address the safety issues immediately at any location in Mt. Lebanon and to address the volume issue at a macro level for all of Mt. Lebanon. In light of the safety issue reported by the residents of Mapleton, I supported the speed control issues (speed bumps, etc) that have since been implemented at Mapleton.

A long term solution to the volume issue was the connection from Painters Run Road from Bower Hill to the Kirwin Heights interchange( I-79) . I understand that PennDot has re-prioritized and has decided to not fund this project for now. Connecting Painters Run to I-79 would divert traffic from south of Mt. Lebanon and is really critical in addressing the long term “volume” issue in Mt. Lebanon. The Commission is working to contact other Municipalities to see if we can collectively get PennDot to reverse their decision. Please address your comments directly to your elected officials and also contact H. Daniel Cessna, District Executive, PennDot at hcessna@state.pa.us so that they can see the community’s support for this project.

Wish all of you a Happy Summer. Thanks.

Raja

P.S:
SPEED CONTROL DEVICE FROM RESIDENT:
I don’t know about you, but this would slow me down! People slow down and try to “straddle” the hole, then breath a sign of relief they completely cleared it!

This is actually a speed control device that is in use. Scroll down and look at all three pictures. And it is much cheaper than speed cameras.

Click speed_control.doc to see.

Dear Mt. Lebanon Friends & Neighbors,

Yesterday, the Commission unanimously passed the 2009 budget with a small tax cut and after restoring several programs that were cut in the proposed budget. Many of you have contacted me to express your opinion on the budget, particularly the cuts that were proposed. I wanted to wait until the budget was formally approved before I provided you with an update and a “behind the scenes” look at what happened. Most of the cuts have been reinstated back in the budget that was approved yesterday. Please feel free to contact me for clarification on any items in the approved budget.

Here is a summary of what happened:
* On Nov 1st, Steve Feller, the Municipal Manager, proposed a 2009 budget that was balanced and without a tax increase but with some services (like Teen Center, First Fridays, Dave Hornak’s position) eliminated.
* Since the release of the proposed budget, I have gone through the budget line by line and created recommendations focused on increasing revenues and reducing expenses. I worked with Commissioner Joe DeIuliis who came up with additional savings (particularly with his expertise in the Public Works area). My initial recommendations were emailed to the Commission and Steve Feller on Nov 20th. The Municipality provided their feedback during the budget review meeting on Dec 2nd. I reviewed the feedback and provided final recommendations during the final budget review meeting on Dec 8th.
* My recommendations provided savings of about $720,000 from increases in revenue and reduction in expenses. After adding back services that were cut (Teen Center, First Fridays, Farmers Market, Historic Society funding, Dave Hornak’s position, etc) and including a 5% tax cut in millage, there was still about $52,000 left over as bottom line savings.
* At the final budget review meeting on Dec 8th, the Commission went through these recommendations line by line in a 13 page spreadsheet that I provided to the Commission and the appropriate Municipal Managers. The Commission made updates and added items that reduced these savings to about $178K based upon the preferences of a majority of the Commission. These savings are now being passed back to the residents as a millage reduction.

I have been discussing improving efficiencies and coming up with tax savings for some time now. The economic conditions that we face today are extraordinary and I am glad that we have been able to find a way to not only restore key services that were cut, but also pass along a small tax cut.

I appreciate the help of the entire Commission and the Municipality in making this possible. I want to thank all the Citizens who took time to email, speak and write to the Commission. Not only did the Citizens make it clear as to what services were critical, they were instrumental in providing several solutions that I included in my recommendations.

Mt. Lebanon is probably one of the first communities to pass a tax cut while restoring cut services in these difficult economic times. In my experience, initiating a new change (i.e. tax cut) is probably the hardest part. Considering that the tax rate has increased 24.6% over the past 5 years, the small tax cut is a good example of change and of collaborative participation between the Residents, Municipality & the Commission.

If you are interested in reading the details on how this was achieved behind the scenes, then read on. I have been asked to provide a write-up on the details for a publication and I am providing this in a draft MBA case study format. I solicit feedback from the Commission, Municipality and the Residents so that I can update with any suggestions prior to submitting the final version.

I welcome discussing with you any of the particular details and look forward to your responses. This is available online at www.joinraja.com and I can be reached via email raja@mtlebanon.org or at 412-341-7252.

Wish all of you and your families a wonderful holiday & Happy New Year. Thanks.

Raja
Commissioner, 1st Ward, Mt. Lebanon

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How Mt. Lebanon was able to reduce taxes while restoring key service cuts during these tough economic times?
Draft, December 16, 2008

Introduction:
Mt. Lebanon is a #1 community that is known for its outstanding services (ex: great public safety). Taxes have been flat for years and expenses have increased in the past several years which resulted in tax increases of 24.6% over the past 5 years. This year, Mt. Lebanon took on this challenge and, with fiscal discipline, found a way to restore service cuts from a proposed budget and also pass along a small tax cut to the residents.

The Challenge:
From a macro level, and as a starting point, here are some facts from the 2009 Recommended Budget released by Steve Feller (Mt. Lebanon’s Municipal Manager):
• Mt. Lebanon’s tax revenues have been flat for a couple of years and are expected to continue through 2009.
• On the expense side, there been increase in costs to the tune of $1,412,700 in 2009. (Details provided later.)
Steve Feller, the Municipal Manager, came up with a balanced budget for 2009 without tax increases. However, several cuts such as Teen Center, Ice Rink Assistant manager’s (Dave Hornak’s) position, First Fridays, etc were proposed and the Commission heard loud and clear from the residents about the importance of these services.

As we went through the budget review for past several weeks, the challenges were clear and there seemed to be no clear solution. At one point, one of the other Commissioners stated in a public discussion session that he would be inclined to raise taxes to restore some of the services that were cut in the Manager’s proposed budget.

The Solution:
Today’s economic condition is extraordinary. My belief is that we (i.e. the Commission, the Municipality and the Residents) needed to look at efficiencies and come up with a solution that not only restored the key services that were cut but also ensured that we provide a tax cut back to the residents of Mt. Lebanon.

Coming from the Private Sector, I have been on both sides of the budget i.e. as CEO and as part of the Board and have expertise creating and reviewing budgets for many years. I went through the budget line by line and focused on increasing revenue, reducing expenses and coming up with enough bottom line savings that we could restore key services and also provide a tax cut. I made an initial draft of the recommendations with savings of about $540,800 and met with Commissioner Joe DeIuliis who further enhanced the savings by about $194,000. The bottom line from increased revenues and reduced expenses was $734,800. Adding back many of the cut services like Teen Center, First Fridays, Farmers Market, Parades, Historic Society, Dave Hornak’s position, etc and providing a real estate tax cut of 5% (i.e. reducing the millage from 4.97 to 4.72), there was still $78,310 left over as bottom line savings.

I emailed the recommendations contained in an Excel spreadsheet to the Commission and Steve Feller on November 30th. The various items were reviewed with the different departments and Willy McKain CPA (Mt. Lebanon’s Director of Finance) provided a response back from the Municipality during the Commission meeting on Dec 2nd. I went through all the responses and met with several Commissioners to create a new version that now had $720,540 as bottom line from increased revenues and reduced expenses. With more of the cuts reversed and while also including a 5% millage tax cut, there was still $52,230 left over as bottom line savings.

The final budget review meeting started at 7pm and ended around 11pm on Mon, Dec 8th. I had provided hard copies of the updated spreadsheet with $720,540 in increased revenues and increased expenses to the Commission and the Municipal Managers reviewing the budget. I want to thank the Commission, the Municipal Managers, Directors & Staff for going through and responding to this spreadsheet line by line (roughly from 8pm to11pm). Steve did a good job in facilitating the feedback on each item to get the consensus of the majority of the Commission. Some items were passed at their original amounts in the spreadsheet, some were negotiated down and some eliminated. From a starting point of $720,540, these changes reduced the net savings to about $178,000. These savings will now be passed on the tax payer as lower millage from 4.97 to 4.89 in 2009.

20/20
My article “20/20” in the Mt. Lebanon Magazine (available online at www.joinraja.com) a few months ago highlighted my thoughts on increasing revenue and reducing expenses with a focus on improving efficiencies by 20% (with the objective of keeping the service level the same) and providing a 20% tax cut to the residents.

The millage tax cut of that passed by the Commission was only 1.6% (178K out of $10.575M). The economic conditions of today have had a clear impact on the potential savings. Just as an example, I want to hypothesize how this could have been 20%.
• The net savings from my recommendations (including Commissioner DeIuliis suggestions) with increases in revenue, reductions in expenses and with restoration of key services that were cut was $574.240.
• Increased costs faced by the Municipality were $1,412,700 (based upon the increases in fringe benefits primarily due to employee health insurance ($308,200), increase in pension costs (129,000), increases in refuse collection ($480,500), fuel ($105,000), utilities ($140,000), MRTSA ($94,000) and salt ($56,000) along with a need to increase the undesignated fund balance ($100,000)).
• In my recommendations, in many areas I had chosen to make reductions in the 2009 budget if they were notably increased over actual amounts for 2006 and 2007 (and 2008 year-to-date where appropriate) and maintained a reasonable and justifiable increase in 2009. By being more stringent on the 2009 budget (ex: keeping it more in line with prior year actual amounts), additional savings of $129,587 could have been generated.
The total of all the above items is $2.117 Million which could have provided marginally over a 20% reduction in millage. The economy has had an impact of all sectors including Mt. Lebanon and while we need to adjust to current economic factors, the hypothesis is just to show how a 20% millage tax savings could have been possible.

Summary:
Mt. Lebanon is probably one of the first communities to pass a tax cut while restoring cut services in these difficult economic times. In my experience, initiating a new change (i.e. tax cut) is probably the hardest part. Considering that the tax rate has increased 24.6% over the past 5 years, the small tax cut is a good example of change and of collaborative participation between the Residents, Municipality & the Commission. It is my hope that the Commission, Municipality and the Residents will continue to seek fiscal discipline and improve efficiencies to provide the best return to the tax payer in Mt. Lebanon in the future years.

Selling McNeilly to fund Mellon Turfing/Lighting

Hi Everyone,

The various sports groups collectively represented by Chip Dalesandro and Scott Hagy presented to the Commission a few weeks ago and indicated their highest priority was putting artificial turf and lighting in Mellon Field and that the Municipality should sell McNeilly field (as a source of funding). I think the Commission made progress with respect to McNeilly field last Monday evening when they requested Steve Feller (with the appropriate individuals in the Municipality) to come up with a plan to put McNeilly field up for sale.

Mt. Lebanon’s debt (via bond issue) has increased by 64% over the past 5 years and I am not in favor of issuing further bond issuance this year unless there are specific circumstances that warrant this. My philosophy has always been to ask every individual to treat any organization’s money like it is their own whether it is in the private sector (ex: if you are working for a for-profit company or non-profit group) or the public sector (ex: if you are either overseeing or working for a Municipality). Especially with the current economic environment, would you not be extra careful with your finances when your savings have been impacted and possibly facing job insecurity also? I think it is prudent to watch bond debt particularly in this current economic environment.

Selling McNeilly is a good option to fund Mellon turfing/lighting and other capitals needs of the Municipality. Also, McNeilly can help generate tax revenue to Mt. Lebanon based upon usage (residential, commercial, etc). This is the first time I believe that the Commission has made a formal step with regard to the sale of McNeilly (this is just an initial step; this may have to come up for a formal vote sometime in the future). We can take now an asset (i.e. McNeilly) that is unused and fund Mellon Turfing & Lighting and other important capital needs of Mt. Lebanon.

I would love to hear your thoughts in this regard. Please feel free to call (412-341-7252) or email (raja@mtlebanon.org). Thanks.

Raja

Increasing revenue to Mt. Lebanon with zoning changes

Hi Everyone,

I meant to post this a couple weeks ago; however, I got delayed in doing so.

The 2009 budget is going to be challenging. There have been significant increases in costs for some areas (like garbage collection, insurance premiums, etc). We are still faced with the uncertainty of tax income due to the current economic environment. While we need to look at costs and efficiencies for immediate impact, we need to focus on increasing revenue in the long term. I want to share with you a large revenue impact issue I believe we need to address.

Mt. Lebanon’s Economic Development Council (EDC) Task Force that I initiated about a year ago has been focusing on brainstorming and acting on different approaches/initiatives to improve the economy of the business districts. One item that surfaced from these brainstorming/discussion sessions is the issue of zoning that, if addressed properly, could bring significant revenue to the Municipality.

A building like the Washington Park Condos could generate about $500K annually to the Municipality in terms of real estate taxes (both annual and one time transfer fees) and earned income taxes. It seems to me that if we had 10 such buildings in our business districts then Mt. Lebanon would have $5M in additional revenues annually.

I understand that our current zoning ordinances have restrictions that are not conducive for (re) development. To illustrate, the current zoning requires any new building to have a setback in front and/or back of the property. I do not understand why it is alright for the Municipal building to abut the sidewalk while any new construction is not permitted to do so. In addition there are zoning restrictions with lot coverage and parking that may be too restrictive. I know that Mt. Lebanon is a residential neighborhood; however, we are talking just about the business districts.

I am told that the current zoning is to prevent “big box” type of development; however, we can not have our zoning restrictions preclude development of office and residential buildings in our business districts. At the last Commission meeting the Commission directed the Planning Board to look into the same and make recommendations on changes to proactively attract (re)development of large office and residential buildings in our business districts. I am looking forward to the recommendations of the Planning Board in this regard since the impact of this can be very significant.

As always, your feedback is much appreciated. Thanks.

Raja

Every 5 months, a Commissioner gets to write an article in the Mt. Lebanon Magazine. The October edition is my turn and my article is titled “20/20”. This must have been read by residents last weekend as I have received a lot of positive feedback via email and phone. I am posting the entire article in this blog entry as it provides a baseline for some follow-up items that I plan to write about:

(i) Generating efficiency ideas from within the Municipality
(ii) Best practices approach for increasing efficiency
(iii) Revenue-increasing ideas from within the Municipality & various organizations in Mt. Lebanon
(iv) Strategic blueprints for increasing revenue

As always, I look forward to hearing your comments. Thanks.

Raja

20-20

You are all familiar with the saying “Hindsight can be 20-20”. Let me provide a little background prior to offering how “Foresight can also be 20-20”.

Mt. Lebanon is a wonderful community with many strengths. We have an impressive public safety record, great schools, tree lined streets, historic homes, distinctive business districts and, exceptional residents. But Mt. Lebanon, like so many communities in Southwestern Pennsylvania, isn’t growing. This flat lined trend along with increased municipal taxes (24.6% increase since 2002) and increased debt (63.8% increase since 2002) creates a potential negative trend that threatens our current quality of life.

I believe Mt. Lebanon can reverse this trend now. With a focus towards generating increased revenue, greater fiscal control and lower taxes we can provide a foundation for strong economic growth and a real chance for our children and grandchildren to continue to enjoy the Mt. Lebanon of today.

A June 2008 study “A Strategic Competitive Analysis of Residential Real Estate in Mt. Lebanon”, by Dougherty & Easton, Graduate School of Public & International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh states “Panelists identified perceived high taxes as a major issue for Mount Lebanon (“the big one”) that impacts the decision of single buyers, families and empty nesters alike.”

Lower taxes have proven to spur economic development and higher home prices; the bottom line is that the net income becomes greater in the long run. The 20-20 foresight approach suggests a 20% tax cut with a corresponding 20% change in net income which comes from both increased revenue and reduced expenses.

Mt. Lebanon is blessed with unique business districts. I have enjoyed the opportunity to spearhead our business districts’ strategic plan created by Mt. Lebanon’s Economic Development Council Task Force (available online at mtlebanon.org). By bringing in new businesses and expanding the office space and residential space footprint in our business districts, we can generate significant tax revenue.

Let me offer a couple of ideas on ways to function more efficiently and reduce expenses:

1. Conduct a Municipal Best Practices and Service Levels review by an outside consulting firm: I do not believe that we have undertaken a comprehensive private sector “process re-engineering / optimization” study to identify ways the municipality might be more efficient and productive. However, there is no point in spending any $ with a consulting firm unless the mandate is to target a certain percent of cost savings and the recommendations are followed-through and implemented.

2. Seek new approaches through internal recommendations: The best ideas are most often generated from within the walls of local government. I am suggesting that we not only ask for input, but also reward employees with bonuses for creatively generating savings in providing municipal service without negatively impacting quality.

I know it is neither easy nor popular to cut costs, but we must look for ways to function more efficiently and to optimize the use of technology and improved processes for delivering municipal services. I believe that the right solution for Mt. Lebanon in the long term is to reduce taxes with a focus on increasing revenue and prudent fiscal discipline.

If you subscribe to this philosophy, please contact your Commissioner and let them know to support the 20-20 approach as we finalize the budget for 2009. I would love to hear your opinions; please email me at raja@mtlebanon.org or call 412-341-7252.

Join me in continuing to have Mt. Lebanon be a great place for existing residents and new residents by lowering our taxes, and doing it in a manner that does not impact service or debt. Who needs hindsight when we have foresight!!

As you may be aware, a focus of mine has been to boost the economy of the business districts in Mt. Lebanon. A key issue expressed by all constituents of the business districts was “parking”. The EDC Task force, that I initiated and spearheaded, in the process of creating a Strategic Plan for our Business Districts, highlighted the issues with parking by means of a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis and has come up with several recommendations to address the issues with parking, whether they are perceived or not. The complete Strategic Plan with SWOT details and Parking recommendations are available online at www.mtlebanon.org.

As Commission Liaison to the Parking Authority, I have initiated meetings between the Parking Authority (MLPA), Business & Professional Association (BPA), Building Owners and the EDC Task Force to address these issues. I reached out to Chris Schultz, member of the EDC and fellow MBA alum from CMU, to put together a financial model to evaluate options that provide free parking and greater discount to the BPA’s parking validation program while remaining revenue neutral to the Parking Authority. (Thank you, Chris, for the financial models and your efforts in this regard).

In addition to Chris, I want to thank Al Frioni (Chair of MLPA Board), Rich Sahar (Executive Director of the MLPA) and Joe Ravita (President of BPA) among others for taking time to meet and discuss the various constraints as our conversations evolved into good solutions. Looking at usage patterns in the garages and other factors, we came up with solutions to provide one hour free parking for everyone in the South Garage and also provide the BPA with greater discount on validation. I met with the MLPA Board on Saturday, August 30th to discuss the financial model. I understand that the MLPA Board approved these recommendations at their Board meeting on September 4th. MLPA is currently working on the details of the new program and it is anticipated that the program will be unveiled shortly. I am looking forward to these being implemented, in addition to the various other MLPA initiatives (credit card payments, new parking meters, etc).

I believe that the small wins can go a long way to reenergize the community and free parking is one such win that was achieved at a grass roots level!!

On Friday, September 12th, I was buying lunch at Panera’s on Greentree Road when I ran into a PTA member who asked me, “Why did the Commission want to take Officer Mike Riemer from the school?” After I explained the situation to her, she thanked me and was glad that I had corrected the wrong impression she previously had. In fact, she recommended that I communicate directly to the public. I have not been blogging since I was elected Commissioner and I realize that I should speak out to the residents of Mt. Lebanon concerning important issues.

The facts regarding the Keystone Oaks officer reassignment are as follows. The Commission was presented with a request from Keystone Oaks that they would pay $60K for Mt. Lebanon to reassign an officer to Keystone Oaks. At the end of 2006, Mt. Lebanon was providing an officer to Keystone Oaks and my understanding was that we would receive $60K additional revenue to go back to the same situation at the end of 2006, which was providing the same officer at Keystone Oaks. The Commission voted (3 votes in favor, including myself, and 2 against) to provide an officer to Keystone Oaks and for Mt. Lebanon to receive the $60K. Keep in mind this was not in line with the recommendation of the Police Chief who wanted the Commission to add either another police officer or turn down the proposal from Keystone Oaks. Adding another permanent police officer when we only had a one year commitment from Keystone Oaks did not seem to be a good decision at the time.

Instead of reverting back to the same situation at the end of 2006 (i.e. providing the same officer to provide services back to Keystone Oaks), the Police Chief decided to reassign Mike Riemer, without informing the Commission. It was only when several concerned PTA members emailed me days after this decision was made that I found out about this unexpected change. At the next Commission Executive session, the Police Chief explained the reasons for pulling Mike Riemer out of his school responsibilities and reassigning him to Keystone Oaks. Several new facts were presented at this meeting which did not make it feasible to meet the proposal of Keystone Oaks. I did not and would have never made the decision to take Officer Mike Riemer from his school duties and reassign him.

This is a prime example of when I believe a good decision was improperly executed. Personally, I feel blind-sided by the decision to reassign Officer Riemer. I understood the Chief’s reasons after the additional new facts were presented; however, I believe that the proper communication and presentation of all facts at decision time would have prevented this situation from happening. I have since requested Steve Feller, the municipal manager, to inform the Commission about the implementation details, particularly if the decision is not in line with the recommendation of any of the Municipal Heads.

One positive outcome has arisen from this issue – I realize the importance of clearing up misunderstandings and communicating important issues to the residents of Mt. Lebanon. I intend to continue to keep you informed and look forward to viewing your comments.