One side of an ongoing dispute between political factions in Penn Hills says if it smells like a coverup and walks like a coverup, it must be a coverup.

The other side says it's politics, pure and simple, and no one's hiding anything.

At issue is a repair bill from a local auto body shop owned by Don Kuhn, husband of Democratic Councilwoman Sara Kuhn. Penn Hills Republican Committee Chairman Bob Sevcik contends that Kuhn Auto Body was given a repair job last winter even though another body shop had a lower bid.

Sevcik said that when he and Councilwoman Yvonne Lamanna wanted to investigate the matter, then-acting Manager Jim Schaffer said he was ordered not to talk about the bid. Schaffer, director of water pollution control, was acting manager when the repair order was issued in February.

Lamanna said she wants to talk to Schaffer on this but insists she is being stonewalled.

"This gives me the impression of a coverup," Sevcik said.

Sevcik and Kuhn are running for council in November, and Kuhn says the election, not an ethics violation, is stirring the kettle.

Kuhn was appointed to council in November. She said that before she accepted the position, she asked the state Ethics Commission whether her appointment would be a problem because Penn Hills has a towing contract with her husband's business and uses it for municipal repairs. She said she was told that there would be no problem as long as she abstained from voting on contracts.

She also said Kuhn Auto Body's bid was lower and that Schaffer was not told not to talk.

"There is no gag order," Kuhn said.

No one has ordered Schaffer not to talk to anyone, Solicitor Bonnie Bremmeier said at a recent meeting where Sevcik brought the matter up. She has checked out the allegations and said there were no improprieties.

And at first glance, Bruce T. Conley Auto Body appears to be the low bidder, at $2,253, to fix a truck involved in an accident in December. Kuhn's bid was $3,042.

However, Kuhn Auto Body's bid included replacing a gas tank on the truck, which the other bid didn't, a difference of $908. "[Kuhn Auto] was the lowest bid," Kuhn said.

Sevcik called Kuhn's argument a "red herring" and contended that bringing up the extra equipment just distracted from the issue. He said side-by-side comparisons of identical items bid and additional items, such as Kuhn's gas tank and a $1,154 mirror included in Conley's bid, still show Conley was lower.

But Sevcik and Lamanna say the only way they can get answers is by talking with Schaffer, and that's not likely to happen soon.

Enter municipal Manager Marla Marcinko, who has been on the job a month.

Marcinko said that she does not have control over whom Schaffer talks with. But she also told Lamanna she advised Schaffer that she didn't think it appropriate for him to discuss municipal matters while he is off the job. Schaffer has been on sick leave since May 9 and could not be reached for comment.

Recently, Lamanna wrote formally to Marcinko, asking that Schaffer be permitted to "discuss the Kuhn Auto Body matter" with them. But Marcinko said at the meeting and in a letter to the councilwoman, that contacting an employee on an extended sick leave isn't good practice, and she wouldn't do it.