Council Meeting - Summary 11/12/08

Appointments to vacancies

• M. Crown, former council member and president was appointed to B. Ogden's vacant seat.
  
• E. Doherty, former Civil Service Commission Chairman was appointed to C. O'Brien's vacant seat.
  

2500 Crafton Blvd. Homicide / Drug activity in Crafton:

Many residents questioned the homicide at 2500 Crafton Blvd. Was this drug related? The mayor and police chief have provided few details on what exactly happened and what is being done to combat drug activity in Crafton.

One resident expressed hearing county detectives discussing drugs found at the scene. Another resident stated that he contacted the CPD to report the drug activity elsewhere in Crafton, on many occasions no one responded to the call and when they did it was too late.

Council members questioned the CPD participation in DANET, the Mayor insisted that Crafton Borough is active in DANET and hasn’t received any requests from DANET to participate. She was only able to name 2 of the 3 CPD officers involved in the DANET program. The 3rd individual is the Police Chief; working mon-fri, 7am-3pm its unlikely the Chief has any involvement in the DANET program. I suspect this is why the Mayor conveniently forgot the 3rd person.

• Mt. Lebanon was reimbursed by DANET for FY 05 and FY06 2006: $21,142, 2005 $31,883, 2006 (source - Mt. Lebanon PD annual report).
• Crafton PD expenses/reimbursement for FY 08 $0.00

09 Budget

After many meetings the 09 budget went for vote Wednesday night and failed to pass. Mrs. Viola questioned the burden of a 2 mil tax increase on the residents of Crafton Borough. Manager Sample asked why this wasn't brought up during one of the earlier meetings.

The voted ended in a 4/4 tie with the Mayor choosing not to break the vote.

Check back for more information and a review of the next council meeting.

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More Resignations

Bill Ogden, council representative from the first ward and Christine O'Brien, Vice Chair of the Civil Service Commission both recently resigned from their posts.

Council will make appointments to these open positions in the coming weeks.

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Many Questions - Few Answers Surround Murder

Many questions surround the murder at 2500 Crafton Blvd. but few answers are available. With the the possibility this was drug related, many question the boroughs decision to pull out of DANET (District Attorney's Narcotics Enforcement Task-force). 

2008 DANET expenses - $0.00

Background:

In January 2006 council decided to terminate the contract with DANET on the advice of Mayor O'Connell, Chief Rost and Ed Stewart (former president). Crafton had a few officers very active in the DANET program , 2 of which left the borough this year for jobs in other communities. 

Chief Rost and Mayor O'Connell have turned a blind eye to the reality that's in every community. DRUGS!! it happens and it needs dealt with a proactive manner. Next time it won't be a murder in a home, it will move to our streets. Maybe next time an innocent citizen gets caught in the crossfire. 

Mayor O'Connell, Chief Rost - support your officers rather than belittle and harass them. 

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Fatal Shooting in Crafton

Police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 22 year old man identified as Thomas Howard. The incident occurred Wednesday evening in the 2500 block of Crafton Boulevard. No suspects have been identified. The incident may be drug related.

Any one with information is asked to contact the Allegheny County Homicide detectives at 412-473-1300.

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