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Mahoney request for bus use comes under fire

By Patty Yauger pyauger@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read
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The use of a Fayette Area Coordinated Transit (FACT) bus should be only for its designated purpose, not for a charity event, according to a Vanderbilt resident.

“Any property in this county, that is owned by the county, is actually owned by the taxpayers,” said Jerri Mazza. “For anybody living in this county to think they have the right to access any equipment or any property owned by the taxpayers is ludicrous.”

Mazza speculated that the toy collection was a “political ploy,” not a charitable event as being portrayed by state Rep. Tim Mahoney, whose office had planned to use the county bus for the “stuff the bus” project that was in its second year.

“I’m very upset that this person thinks he has the right to request a bus and be granted a bus,” said Mazza. “He’s no better or no worse than anybody in this county.

“It only costs $25 to go and rent a bus.”

The use of the bus by Mahoney, D-South Union Township, for the collection of toys for children participating in Children and Youth Services (CYS) programs, arose two weeks ago after Mahoney’s staff was advised a county bus would not be made available for the two-day event, just hours before it was to begin.

Mahoney said that after the success of the 2013 event, he had Jim Conway, his legislative aide, contact the FACT administration in September to again schedule the use of a FACT bus for the early December event.

“We thought everything was in place,” said Mahoney when contacted after the commission meeting. “We had to have (FACT’s) OK to have the fliers printed.”

The “stuff the bus” project grew out of an office conversation about helping CYS families in the county after it was learned the agency would not be able to distribute gifts to all the children in its programs, added Mahoney.

“It was a no-brainer,” he said, adding that the 2013 event was deemed a success. “We were able to put a smile on the face of a lot of kids. That’s what Christmas is about… the kids.”

Conway said that, like last year, he made the call to the FACT office to schedule the use of the bus and believed that everything was in place, until the afternoon before the collection event was to take place.

“I got a phone call and was told that we couldn’t use the bus,” he said. “I couldn’t understand why it was alright last year and not this year.”

Commission Chairman Vince Zapotosky said that he was unaware that a request had been made or that the use of the FACT bus had been denied.

“We were being vilified, but no one told us (of the request),” he said. “It has been perceived that we said no, but no one contacted us.

“If I had known, we could have sat down and talked about it.”

Conway said that he was able to secure the use of a bus from Senior Life of Uniontown and again, residents came by and filled the vehicle with toys.

“It was a success and I’m sure a lot of kids are going to be happy on Christmas day,” he said.

Both Conway and Mahoney said Mazza’s supposition that the event was based in politics rather than charity, is wrong.

“Our intent was to do something good for Fayette County families and I believe we accomplished that,” said Mahoney. “Politics had nothing to do with it.”

Mazza disagreed.

“You don’t broadcast true charity,” she said. “You just do it.

“They weren’t doing it for true charity, they were doing it to enhance their own reputations.”

In other action, the commissioners conducted the following business:

n Agreed to re-advertise bids for the expansion of the CYS building located on Old New Salem Road.

n Renewed contracts with constables Kim Renze, Mark Pasquale, Philip Michael, Brian Kelly and Todd Brothers to work at the county booking center at an hourly salary of $15.50 through Dec. 31, 2015.

n Approved a cooperative agreement with various county townships, boroughs and cities to administer the Uniform Construction Code through Dec. 31, 2018.

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