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Murrysville Government
The Murrysville government was developed
by local residents and approved by the people through a referendum in
1976. The approved document is Murrysville's Home Rule Charter, which
functions as our local constitution. The Charter developed a form of
government with the Mayor (elected every two years) as the head
of all administrative activities and a seven-member Council (four-year
terms) delegated legislative powers. The a mayor has administrative
powers, and a seven-member council have legislative powers.
Below is a list of the current council members elected by the residents
of Murrysville. These seven individuals need a majority vote to pass any of
the ordinances before them.
Council President Nancy Kacin is the wife of local developer Richard Kacin who owns
Kacin Companies, and Vice-President Larry Nicolette is the acting CFO of
Kacin Companies. Not only has Richard Kacin been involved with many
commercial developments in the Murrysville area he is
also chairman of Murrysville Economic and Community Development
Corporation (MECDC). The MECDC has been involved with the mediation
process with Manor Development Group II over the re-zoning of the
Buncher Property into the
Overlay District. Largely this has been seen as a conflict of
interest by many of the residents of Murrysville, however, Solicitor George A. Kotjarapoglus has publically stated otherwise.
John Cardwell, who is the executive director of the MECDC and recently
served a 8-year term on the Murrysville Council, recently stated "that
concurrent with the Manor development, the municipality is moving
forward with a plan that it hopes will transform Murrysville's Route 22
corridor into something more than a series of strip centers".
John Cardwell is also a member of the Fiscal Sustainability Committee,
which is chaired by councilman Larry Nicolette.
Manor Development are planning to build as much as 400,000 square feet
of retail space, hoping to lure stores such as Target, Giant Eagle, Home
Depot and Kohl's, along with chain restaurants such as Outback
Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill and Bob Evans on the Buncher property that
John Cardwell speaks of.
The "Commercial Developer" influence within our governing body of
Murrysville is HUGE! To think otherwise would be unrealistic. The
Murrysville Council voting record is towards these very controversial
issues such as the Overlay/Buncher
Property, Banner Parklet, and the
attempted sale of Pleasant Valley Park do not sit well with the majority
of the citizens.
Only councilwoman Joan Kearns and councilman Dennis Pavilk voted against
the approval of the Greater Business Overlay District on August 6, 2008.
According to councilman Dennis Pavlik the Overlay ordinance is fatally
flawed. Mr. Pavlik states: "The Overlay Ordinance is fundamentally
flawed and should be defeated. Not because of the Manor Development
proposal nor because of the mediation agreement. But because it will
not accomplish what the proponents claim that it would."
Click here to read more...
Current Murrysville Council Members:
Other members of the Murrysville
Government which have an impact:
Mayor:
Joyce Somers
Chief Administrator:
John Barrett
Director of Community
Development: Chris Rearick
Solicitor: George A.
Kotjarapoglus
| Residents
know more about our elected officials:
In the
Thursday, July 24, 2008 edition of the Murrysville Start
Newspaper our Murrysville Council President, Nancy Kacin, is
quoted as saying -- she hopes the town hall can clarify the
proposal for all residents and show that not all residential
property in the municipality can be used for business
development. "We're hoping we can stop the false rumors and
lies", she said. Mayor Joyce Somers said "residents have had chance to submit
questions the municipal staff but few have done so.”
We're
wondering which rumors have been started and what lies have been
told? Maybe Mrs. Kacin could clarify this for us? We have yet to
hear anyone suggest that “all residential property in the
municipality can be used for business development”. We have also
submitted many questions about the Overlay to Council and
Planning/Zoning members, and many have never been answered. We
have been very frustrated as a community that we are not being
listened to and having our local officials patronize us in the
local newspapers as they have.
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In the November 28, 2007
Murrysville Council meeting councilman Theo van deVenne
made the statements "rezoning this is a betrayal to the
people that live around there" in regards to Manor
Development Group II's request to rezone 50 acres
currently zoned as residential in hopes to rezone the
entire area as commercial. Mr. van deVenne is absolutely
right, however, his voting record on this ordinance has
shown otherwise. As you watch this video
clip Mr. van deVenne goes on to state that he "does not
want to live next to a garbage dump"... "the same for
commercial, it's a lot of impact". |
Click to play video clip
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In the May 2, 2007 issue of the
Penn Franklin News they announced the candidates for the 2007
Murrysville Council positions. Newly elected councilman Regis
Synan position was printed as stating: "I
feel it is the duty of those in local government to advocate for
property owners who are being surrounded by commercial
encroachment. Those who purchase their property with adjacent
residential zoning should not fear their neighborhoods turning
commercial."
On August 6, 2008 the controversial Greater Business Overlay
District (GBOD)
ordnance was passed by the Murrysville Council with a 5-2 vote.
Voting for the ordinance were
Nancy Kacin,
Larry Nicolette, Jeffrey Franke, Theo van deVenne,
Regis Synan.
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Contacting the Pennsylvania State Ethics
Commission:
If you feel there is an ethic violation with the members of council or
any of the Municipal authorities you may use the steps below to report
the violation:
1. Go to the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission page here:
http://www.ethics.state.pa.us/ethics/site/default.asp
2. On the left panel click on the "Ethics
Information"
3. When in the Ethics Information page on the left panel click on
"Complaints"
4. When in the Complaints page on the left panel click on "Complaint
Form" or "Filing a Complaint"
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