Canceled vote shows engineering services remain a sore spot for Penn Hills Council

Penn Hills Council has once again put off a vote to hire Gibson-Thomas Engineering.

Hours before it was set to begin, Mayor Pauline Calabrese called off a June 24 special meeting to consider appointing the firm as engineer for Community Development Block Grant projects over the next three fiscal years.

Penn Hills typically receives about $700,000 in CDBG funds each year to benefit low- and moderate- income residents or meet urgent community development needs.

Council tabled a resolution twice in January to make Gibson-Thomas not just the engineer for these projects, but for all municipal needs. Calabrese raised the issue again in June, this time just for CDBG, believing Penn Hills would face consequences from the Department of Housing and Urban Development otherwise.

According to Penn Hills Planning Director Chris Blackwell, that is not the case, though making an appointment before July 1 would have been the best practice.

Either way, the votes for Gibson-Thomas simply weren’t there.

“Some council members were not clear on the process or the choices, so I did not have a solid yes on the votes, and there’s no point in having a voting meeting for something I’m not sure will pass,” Calabrese said.

Council members Joanne Fascio, Shawn Kerestus and Alan Waldron told TribLive that they’re not interested in appointing Gibson-Thomas at this time. Waldron also took to Facebook to decry Calabrese’s efforts to bring in new engineers.

“It’s embarrassing,” Waldron said in the post. “She’s literally the only person in the municipality pushing for this.”

Deputy Mayor Catherine Sapp did not respond to requests for comment.

Officials seem to be in agreement that The Gateway Engineers, which has provided all in-house engineering for about 20 years, does a fine job. Where Calabrese departs from a majority of council is her desire to bring in fresh perspectives.

“Any savings we can find or any competition we can create is a benefit to our taxpayers,” Calabrese said.

She said council should look for savings wherever possible as revenue, briefly buoyed by pandemic-era stimulus monies, returns to regular levels. Gibson-Thomas could save the municipality 25% to 30% on engineering costs for CDBG projects, she noted.

Kerestus, on the other hand, said he has crunched the numbers and couldn’t find any significant savings. He also corresponded with township managers at Ross and South Fayette about their experiences with Gibson-Thomas. While they characterized the firm as cost conscious, neither manager cited specific savings.

“There needs to be a valid reason to change engineers,” Kerestus said. “Honestly, everyone seems to enjoy working with (Gateway).”

Neither Gateway nor Gibson-Thomas returned requests for comment.

Unless council votes otherwise, Gateway — whose appointments expired last year — will continue to perform engineering duties. Nonetheless, council members say they’re frustrated by the situation.

Fascio conceded that the optics of repeatedly postponing votes “are not perfect” and urged Calabrese to drop the issue.

In his conversation with TribLive, Waldron criticized Calabrese for what he perceives as politicizing something that primarily affects rank-and-file municipal workers. After the second vote failed to materialize in late January, she pinned the delay on Waldron and Kerestus’ inexperience as councilmen.

Calabrese criticized Waldron’s approach, too.

“We don’t conduct our government business on Facebook,” Calabrese said.