Penn Hills politicos reschedule meeting
By yourpennhills
Created Mar 19 2009 - 4:28pm
Politics came before business Monday in Penn Hills.
The municipality's council usually would have met that night, but instead, local Democrats gathered to endorse candidates in the upcoming primary.
All five members of council are Democrats. Two -- Sara Kuhn and the Rev. J-La Von Kincaid -- are up for re-election. Both received their party's backing.
The council meeting was rescheduled for Tuesday night; a legal notice was published Monday, fulfilling the requirement that the public be notified at least 24 hours ahead of the new meeting time.
But the Democratic Party chairwoman in Penn Hills thinks rescheduling the council meeting was a bad idea.
"It wasn't necessary. Even if Kuhn and Kincaid came to the endorsement meeting, council would still have had a quorum," said Erin Vecchio, who received the party's endorsement for another term on the school board.
Councilmen Joe Palumbo and Gary Underwood attended the meeting as Democrat committee members despite a requirement in Penn Hills' home rule charter that should have forced them to resign their posts after joining council in January 2008.
On Tuesday, Palumbo said he did not resign because it was never brought up at council. He noted that he quit his job as a school crossing guard when someone pointed out that the charter prohibits council members from working for the municipality. He said he now plans to step down from his committee post.
Underwood also said he would resign the committee post.