Dormont Council Overturns Mayor's Veto of Ticket Ordinance

Dormont Council voted 4-1 Monday night to overturn Mayor Tom Lloyd's veto of a new parking ticket ordinance that tightens the reins on which borough officials have the power to dismiss parking tickets and also limits each license plate to only one dismissal a year, no exceptions.

The mayor invoked his veto power after the ordinance was adopted by council at its October meeting. throughout his years of service, as have mayors before him.

Council approved the new ordinance at that meeting by a 3-2 vote with Council President Kim Lusardi, Vice President Laurie Malka and Councilman Drew Lehman in favor and council members Joan Hodson and Eugene Barilla opposed.

At Monday's meeting, Barilla, Malka, Lehman and Councilwoman Heather Schmidt voted to overturn the veto while Councilman John Maggio voted to uphold the mayor's action.

After the vote, Barilla turned to Schmidt and said, "He lied to me," with a reference to Maggio's vote. (Click here for video of the meeting provided by Mary Pitcher, who films each meeting.) Some residents thought he said, "You lied to me," in reference to Schmidt, and began accusing her of lying, which she immediately denied.

Maggio asked what Barilla had said to clear the issue, but Lehman responded instead, saying, "I think he (Barilla) might have been confused. I'm not sure."  And in the confusion of the moment, as Schmidt and Lehman talked, and residents yelled out, Malka called on Schmidt to proceed with the next item on the agenda.

Bert Lloyd, the mayor's wife, questioned who would be available to serve residents who want tickets dismissed for the approved reasons after business hours, the only time many who work are able to take care of such matters. The mayor has held weekly office hours every Wednesday evening to handle tickets and other resident concerns.

Malka said police desk officers are available in the evenings to handle such matters. Under the policy, the desk officers and police secretary are the only ones able to dismiss parking tickets.

"I can stay home every Wednesday night, starting this Wednesday," Mayor Lloyd said before council voted on overturning his veto.

He noted that although the bottom of the ticket says people can see the magistrate for dismissal, he was told by the district court staff that the office no longer handles the parking tickets. The office of district Judge Blaise Larotonda is closed this week and no one there could be reached to verify if that's the case.

Several residents questioned why the power to dismiss parking tickets should be stripped from Lloyd when other mayors in the state are doing it. But Manager Gino Rizza and Councilman Drew Lehman disagreed, saying there were few mayors still dismissing tickets.

According to Baldwin Mayor Jim Nowalk, president of the Pennsylvania Mayors Association, although the practice varies municipality to municipality.

"It's an issue of impropriety," Malka said. "It's good business."

Council decided to set an administrative policy regarding how parking tickets are dismissed on the advice of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Malka said.

A few residents raised concerns after Malka announced that there was a "typo" in the ordinance where two words were transposed. At one point residents asked that Malka read the ordinance before the vote, and while there seemed to be some agreement among council members to do that, it was not read before the vote was taken.

Solicitor Deron Gabriel said that the transposed words did not change the meaning of the ordinance and so no vote was required on the modification.

The proposed policy will allow permit parking tickets to be excused only if:

• A new permit is purchased because the resident forgot to renew or obtain one.
• A person claims their permit was in the vehicle but not visible to the ticket writer.
• The resident has a valid guest permit that was not placed on the guest's vehicle upon arrival.

Meter parking tickets would be excused only if the meter was verified as out of order at the time the ticket is issued.

After council voted, Lloyd said that one dismissal is in process and he asked council to let that one go through without fining him, as the new ordinance states that elected officials will be fined, and employees disciplined or terminated for dismissing tickets.