Penn Hills ousts manager, replaces him
Penn Hills Council fired manager Terry Van Horne Monday night after 18 months on the job.
The five-member council voted unanimously to terminate Van Horne, and in a separate unanimous vote name Public Works Director Moe Rayan as the interim manager.
Mayor Anthony DeLuca Jr. outlined a litany of reasons why council sought to remove Van Horne, 62, including:
• Failing to make adequate progress in instituting a vehicle tracking system and changes requested in the code enforcement.
• Occasions in which the manager was not in the office on a Friday when a member of council came by the municipal building.
• Problems with controlling costs for the municipality's telephone system.
• Council's displeasure with the way Van Horne developed this year's budget, which required that four employees be furloughed to balance the spending plan.
• Mishandling of sewer bill refunds.
• Van Horne's plan to rent a home from a municipal employee to meet the requirement that the manager relocate to Penn Hills. Van Horne lives in Lower Burrell.
DeLuca and Deputy Mayor Sara Kuhn met privately with Van Horne on Jan. 19 to ask him to resign from his $93,000-a-year job. The pay when he was hired in July 2007 was $88,000.
Van Horne was the fourth person to hold the job in four years. DeLuca said a search would begin immediately to find a permanent manager.
Don Sanker, a former council member, said the reasons the mayor provided were examples of the micromanging of the day-to-day operations of the municipality.
"You folks are about to set this community back 200 years," Sanker said.
When Sanker refused to adhere to the three-minute time limit to address council, DeLuca pounded the gavel, saying, "We are not going to let this meeting get out of control."
When Sanker questioned council's motivations for removing Van Horne, Kuhn launched into a lengthy tirade against him, which elicited comments of "circus" from some of the residents in attendance.
Resident Heather Hoolahan accused council of micromanging "on an obscene level."
"I've never been more ashamed to be a resident of Penn Hills," she said.
Hoolihan questioned how Rayan would be able to do the job because he was already working as the head of public works and recently was made responsible for running the parks and recreation department after its director was furloughed.
Van Horne, who is a former longtime state lawmaker, did not attend the meeting. He has hired an attorney to advise him on whether legal action is warranted.
