Penn Hills, a town of 47,000 laid out on rolling hills dotted with neat, split-level brick houses, is no stranger to down-and-dirty politics.

	VWH Campbell, Post-Gazette Penn Hills Councilwoman Yvonne Lamanna, and Mayor Anthony DeLuca surrounded by empty council chairs. Click photo for larger image.

Over the years, candidates for public office have sometimes resorted to publicity stunts to get voters' attention and those already in office have been known to unabashedly appoint their relatives to any number of posts.

But the second-largest municipality in Allegheny County has reached a new level of dysfunction in these early days of 2004.

Right now, there is no government.

Council has not been able to muster the quorum of three needed to hold a meeting since the beginning of January, which has brought several needed municipal functions to a halt and angered hundreds of residents.

A home rule community since 1973, Penn Hills' government structure includes four council members and a mayor with full voting rights.

Anthony DeLuca stepped down from council after he was elected mayor last year, leaving one seat vacant. And only one council member, Yvonne Lamanna, has shown up for the eight special and regular meetings DeLuca has attempted to call this year. The other members, John DePietro and Mary Rose Davis, have failed to show up for any of the sessions.

Davis hasn't shown up because she says if she provided a quorum it would give DeLuca and Lamanna the power to run the community as they see fit.

As a result, because the previous council did not adopt a budget or a tax structure by the end of December, the lack of quorum has meant that Penn Hills is a municipality without a spending plan or a tax rate.

It also is a municipality without a solicitor because he has been fired or has "constructively resigned," depending on whom one asks.

DeLuca says August Damian, who's been solicitor for 30 years, has resigned because he hasn't attended any of the meetings DeLuca called. Damian counters that DeLuca and Lamanna illegally fired him, even though three members of council are needed to take such action. Besides, Damian adds, he never attended special sessions in the past and that's what the meetings DeLuca tried to arrange were.

Penn Hills has a stack of unpaid bills and is facing several lawsuits -- from residents sick of the inaction and from Damian, who says the municipality owes him more than $60,000 for work previously performed.

Without a quorum, council hasn't even been able to reorganize.

"I look forward to going to court and see who's been advising them," DeLuca said Wednesday about DePietro and Davis, after resigning himself to the fact that council could not meet again because of their absence.

Christine Altenburger, who taught local government for 34 years in the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and Internal Affairs, said Penn Hills' inability to right its ship may have long-lasting affects.

"It simply diminishes trust in government," said Altenburger, who also is a former Penn Hills resident and councilwoman. She served four years on council in the 1970s.

The stand-off "does damage to the image of Penn Hills," she added.

When problems of this sort prevent a community from functioning properly, Altenburger also places at least part of the blame on the residents who elect the officials.

"We keep re-electing the same people," she said.

As author of "Attaining A Wise Outcome: Problem Solving for Public Officials," a book she wrote to advise newly elected public officials, Altenburger said for some reason some politicians never learn to see both sides.

"Politics always involves compromise," she said.

Compromise appears to be elusive in Penn Hills.

Davis has said she won't attend a council meeting just to make a quorum. To do so would allow DeLuca and Lamanna to act on any number of items that require a simple majority, giving them power they don't really have, Davis said.

Last week, when Davis learned that DeLuca no longer considers Damian legal counsel for Penn Hills, she wrote an open letter saying holding a meeting without legal counsel is illegal and she wouldn't be a part of it.

Meanwhile, DeLuca is trying to get around his two AWOL council members by filling his former council seat.

According to the municipal charter, the courts can be asked to step in to fill an empty council post 45 days after it becomes apparent council can't agree on a nominee for a vacancy.

On Feb. 20, DeLuca and Lamanna, both Democrats and allies, intend to file a petition in Common Pleas Court asking that a judge name J. LaVon Kincaid Sr. to council. If the United Methodist Church minister is appointed, Penn Hills might have a meeting before St. Patrick's Day.

DeLuca and Lamanna also are paying attention to a lawsuit filed by 126 Penn Hills residents who have asked a Common Pleas Court judge to vacate the seats held by DePietro and Davis so that new people can be appointed or selected in a special election and government can move forward.

"It's just a disgrace," said Joseph "Mickey" O'Connor, of Penn Hills, a retired purchasing agent, who filed the citizens petition.

O'Connor and the others charge in their lawsuit that Davis and DePietro, who are also Democrats, are in violation of their oaths of office because they haven't attended meetings.

They also say DePietro is guilty of malfeasance of office because he ran for and won office in Penn Hills, knowing he doesn't live in the municipality.

The residents insist in their complaint that DePietro lives in Kennerdale, Venango County, most of the time and a local address he uses is actually his brother's house. Calls to DePietro's brother Carl at his home and to a number in Venango County said to belong to DePietro have not been answered.

That citizens' lawsuit is in addition to a petition filed by former Councilman Bob Sevcik and four others who are asking the court simply to name someone to fill the council vacancy.

Sevcik, a Republican, ran against DeLuca in November for the mayor's office. He also ran unsuccessfully against DeLuca two years ago for council and against DeLuca's father, longtime state Rep. Tony DeLuca, D-Penn Hills, in the 2000 race for the 32nd District seat in the state House of Representatives.

Other residents, like Jerry Chiappinelli, vice chairman of the Democratic Party in Penn Hills, attributed the recent breakdown in municipal government to disarray and division in the party. Until the split is fixed among Democrats, problems will go on, Chiappinelli, said.

Until Penn Hills officials are able to sort out their current differences, they can only write payroll checks and pay utility bills. All other vendors will just have to be patient, DeLuca said.

Though DeLuca admitted he doesn't consider Damian the Penn Hills solicitor any longer, he said the attorney eventually will be paid for past work.

"He is not the only vendor waiting for payment," DeLuca said.

And while council is scheduled to meet again the third Wednesday of this month, Feb.18, it doesn't look hopeful.

The court, it seems, may be the only option to make Penn Hills functional again.