Wednesday, August 13, 2014

For your information, I am posting the links to the various germain Council Meeting minutes below.
The date of each meeting is in the link as follows, year (2014) then month (07), then day (01).
As of now, the minutes from Aug. 5 or 12 are not yet posted.

http://www.ohara.pa.us/agenda/20140701ws.pdf

http://www.ohara.pa.us/agenda/20140715spws.pdf

http://www.ohara.pa.us/agenda/20140304ws.pdf

I will add links as they become available.

Tom Portante

NOTE:  IF YOUR BROWSER DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLY TAKE THE LINK TO THE PDF FILE, YOU CAN COPY AND PAST IT INTO YOUR WEB ADDRESS LINE.
At the Council meeting on August 12th, there were many more people there that spoke in opposition to the new building.  As the discussion went on, it was apparent that Council, while still listening to the citizen comments, was anxious to get on with the business at hand.  However, a former councilman, Joe Fraunholtz, addressed Council by quoting from the Home Rule Charter that the process that was being used to further this issue appeared to be invalid.  It is a very complicated issue that I don't fully understand, so I don't feel comfortable writing about it here.  At tonight's regularly scheduled Republican Committee meeting I expect that we will thoroughly discuss it to see what the prospects are for the contracts to be let.  Please come by at 7 PM at the Council chambers to see what is happening.

Tom Portante

Sunday, August 10, 2014

As I expected, there were many more people speaking in support of Council committing the taxpayers to finishing the new building than opposed.  Most said how great it will be to have the new Community Building, but only a few spoke to remind everyone of the taxpayer financing of it.

The CCA asked that Council provide a "loan" to finish funding.  Of course no one reminded the Council that there is no actual loan to the CCA since the CCA is not actually spending any money.  Council will just refinance their existing municipal bond and add another $1.5 million or so to it to provide the ready cash when it is needed for construction.  Although CCA said they will continue to raise funds once the construction contract is signed, the O'Hara taxpayer is on the hook essentially forever.  I hope that CCA puts forth maximum effort, but, as many people there said, there is no guarantee that CCA can or will raise enough money.

A poll of the Council shows that a clear majority (at least 5 members) are voting to go on with the project.  Bob Smith waved around a piece of paper that he said was a summary of his campaign promises of his several elections.  One item on it was his commitment for the new building.

When I quoted Huck Vogel from March 4, 2014 when he said that he would max out O'Hara's commitment at $2 million, he said he was standing by that commitment, but insisted that "this just a loan, not giving it to CCA."  The problem is the Twp. is taking out the loan, not to give to CCA, but to put it toward the building.  So I ask, "What is the difference?"  The taxpayer is responsible for paying it back, not the CCA.  So Council is obligating the tax payer for $2 million out of reserves and $1.5 million in new borrowing.  I see no difference since the taxpayer pays it all if CCA fails to raise more cash.

Those people who called or emailed me should not bother to come to the next meeting since the majority of Council has committed to the full project, including all extras.

Tom Portante

Monday, August 4, 2014

Tuesday August 5th is shaping up to be a very contentious O'Hara Council meeting.  Several people who are in favor of Council spending the extra $1.3 million tax dollars have contacted me to tell me I am being mean and selfish.  I do wish that we could build it with donated money, rather than saddling the taxpayers with not only the initial capital cost, but the long-term risk of ongoing costs.  Unfortunately, the private fund-raising has not met the requirements to complete the building.

I have also had several calls or emails in support of my concerns that the Township is over committing the taxpayers to a building that we cannot support without a tax increase or spending our ready reserves on something that is nice to have, but not a requirement for core township services.

Again, please attend the council meeting on Tuesday, August 5th at 7 PM at the township building.

Tom Portante

Friday, August 1, 2014

The latest news is that the final number looks like the CCA is short by
$1,344,419. This will raise the taxpayer's total amount to at least
$3,344,419. The CCA has indicated that they will ask for a loan from the
Township to bridge the difference. My concern is that there are no
assets within the CCA to repay the loan. They are not legally
accountable for repayment. If they go out of business, there is no way
to recover any money. In addition, a loan of this amount would require a
repayment over 10 years at 1% interest of $17,170 per month. For 20
years, the amount is still $12,544 per month. I don't see that this
operation can generate anywhere near enough cash flow to cover this
payment. The other issue is collateral for the loan. The only thing that
can be used is the building itself, but the building is already owned by
the Township. Therefore, if the loan is not repaid, the township cannot
repossess a building that it already owns.

Thursday, July 17, 2014

The situation is even worse than you think. With the latest bid opening, the amount that the taxpayers will be paying for the Community Center building is now about $3,500,000.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

COMMUNITY CENTER UPDATE

At the O'Hara Township Council's special meeting last night (July 15, 2014), bids for the site preparation and landscaping were opened.  This part of the total package had to be rebid because the first request for quote did not include some vital items.  The result of this bid opening increased the total cost by about $450,000 to $9,195,648.  At last report (6/30/14), $7,656,093 had been raised.
For the moment, this raises the required contribution from the taxpayers to a total of $3,539,553.
Again, to put this in perspective, total property tax receipts for the entire township is $2,072,672 per year.
I believe that this is intolerable.  Council cannot and must not commit the taxpayers to this unnecessary use of tax dollars.  We must use our scarce resources to take care of those items that are required, such as road repair and park upkeep.  In addition, we are required by the County to build a new sewage pumping station in the Saxonburg Blvd. area next year.  This will cost somewhere between $3 & $5 million.  If the Community Center is built, it is almost a sure thing that taxes will be raised.

Tom Portante

Monday, July 14, 2014

Community Center


Fellow O’Hara Resident,

 
First, allow me introduce myself.  I am Tom Portante and I’ve been a resident of O’Hara Township for over 20 years.  I’ve been regularly attending Council meetings since this issue has risen and I wanted to take this opportunity to bring something important to your attention.  All of the information below is public information gathered at Township Council meetings, publicly available documents on the O’Hara Township website, from previous Council meeting minutes, and articles from The Herald on the proposed O’Hara Township Community Center.
 

Below is the background information and current issues regarding the Community Center:

 
1)      The not-for-profit group, Community Center Association, has been operating the existing Community Center since the 1980s.  The current facility, located at 1220 Powers Run Road, has reached the end of its useful life.  Since the early 2000s, plans to build a new community center have been discussed.

 
2)      At some point in the late 2000s, the Community Center Association and O’Hara Township Council decided to move forward with building a new community center.  The arrangement would involve O’Hara Township donating one million dollars (set aside in 2004) and the Community Center Association would then raise the rest of the funds through private donations.


3)      The CCA and Council had set 2014-2015 as the period in which a new center needed to be built.
 

4)      In September of 2013, the Community Center Association asked Council for more public dollars to be committed to the fundraising effort.  Council, out of their cash reserves, offered a matching million dollar donation.  That is to say, O’Hara Township would match each dollar the Community Center Association raised, up to a million dollars.  The Community Center Association reached the matching million sometime in late spring 2014.  At this point, O’Hara Township has committed two million dollars to the project.  (The matching million and the original million set aside in 2004)

 
5)      While the fundraising was on-going, the design plans for the building were continually being revised.  There were several public hearings to show the design plans for the new building.  Again, no firm costs were developed for these plans, just estimates.  Several professional construction experts reviewed the plans and determined that the cash raised was wholly inadequate for this design.  As a result, plans were scaled back.

 
6)      All of the above happened without a firm handle on the amount of money required to build the desired building.  That is to say, the scaled back building didn’t necessarily match the amount of funds raised to that point.


7)      The Community Center Association finalized the building design sometime around March and O’Hara Township Council put the project out to bid that same month.

 
8)      The base bid for the building came in at $6,733,235.  This is only for the building and does not include any of the potential add-ons (more stage space for Stage Right, lighting, geo heating, etc), or any overages that are common when constructing a new building.

 
9)      O’Hara Township Council, hoping to cut costs, put the paving and site work jobs out for rebid in May. Those bids will be opened at the July 15th, 2014 meeting.  At the moment, CCA is still short anywhere between $500,000 and $1,300,000.  I’m awaiting a Freedom of Information Request release of information from the Township for the actual numbers. The numbers I have provided are ones that have been discussed at Council meetings by representatives of the Community Center Association, O’Hara Township Council members, and printed in The Herald.

 
10)  As it stands now, the taxpayers of O’Hara Township will be paying at least $2,000,000.00 towards the construction of the new building, and possibly as much as $3,000,000+.  In under one year, the O’Hara Township’s obligations to the Community Center went from $1,000,000.00 to potentially $3,000,000.00+.  To put this amount into perspective, the entire tax receipts to O’Hara Township for every property in the Township, including all residential, commercial, and industrial property (including all of RIDC Park) is $2,072,672 per year. 

 
11)  Because the site bids need to be accepted within 60 days of being opened, O’Hara Township Council must vote to accept or reject the bids by August 20th, 2014.  The last council meeting before the 20th is August 12th, 2014. That means the Council will vote on this August 12th, 2014.

 
12)  The legalities of the situation is that once any one of the six contracts from these bids is accepted by O’Hara Township, the taxpayers will be obligated to continue funding all construction expenses of the Community Center building. (The primary reason is the land was provisionally given to O’Hara Twp. by the Fox Chapel School District.)

 
13)  In addition to the capital costs, O’Hara Township annually subsidizes CCA with a grant of $120,000 per year.


The second part of the issue is the taxpayer finances. If the Township is forced to contribute more than the $2,000,000.00 already committed, it will likely have to raise tax/fee revenue to cover any potential future shortfalls. Also on the horizon is a mandatory Sanitary Sewer project along Saxonburg Blvd.  The estimated cost of that Sanity Sewer project is $3 to $5 million.  The township will have to issue a bond to pay for the sewer project. In addition, should the taxpayers of O’Hara give more money to the Community Center project, we likely won’t have the cash reserves to cover unforeseen events in the Township. Emergency road repairs, hillside collapses, major sewer breaks, bridge failures, major floods (as happens in the early 2000s), and harsh winters could force the township to borrow even more money to cover the costs of repair/rebuilding after those events as well as limit any future road paving efforts.
 

In summation, the O’Hara Township council will be debating whether or not to give the Community Center Association more taxpayer money (assuming they have not successfully fundraised enough to cover the construction costs) at the August 5th, 2014 and August 12th, 2014 meetings.  Both meetings at the O’Hara Township Municipal building located at 325 Fox Chapel Road, are on Tuesday and begin at 7:00pm. If you have any interest in this project, what is being done with your tax dollars, or the possible consequences of committing more taxpayer funds to this project, please attend both of these meetings. It will be the last chance for O’Hara residents to voice their opinions on this matter before it is voted on by Council. 

 
If you cannot attend the meetings, you can always e-mail or call your representative on Council. Their contact information is listed below. Whether you support, oppose, or simply have questions about the Community Center project and O’Hara Townships financial commitments to its construction, the time to ask is before the August 12th, 2014 meeting. After that, it will be too late and our Township will be saddled with the consequences of Council’s decision for decades to come.

 

Contact Information of O’Hara Township Council:

First Ward:       Charles A. Vogel         CVogel@ohara.pa.us           412-828-7535

Second Ward: Mark F. Rothert           MRothert@ohara.pa.us       412-963-7131

Third Ward:     Scott Frankowski         SFrankowski@ohara.pa.us 412-781-4436

Fourth Ward:   Allison Garcia             AGarcia@ohara.pa.us          412-772-1695

Fifth Ward:      Cassandra Eccles         CEccles@ohara.pa.us          412-828-9664

At-Large:         Robert John Smith       RSmith@ohara.pa.us           412-967-0629

At-Large:         Bart Bodkin                 BBodkin@ohara.pa.us         412-203-3503

 

If you’d like to contact me to ask any questions, or to speak to your group, my information is below.

 

Tom Portante, 204 Margery Drive, Ward 1, District 1, Pittsburgh, Pa 15238-3008

E-mail:  tportante@comcast.net  Phone: (412) 781-3958   Cell: (412) 491-0828   Fax: (412) 781-0902