To maintain a direct line of communication between governing bodies, Mt. Lebanon municipal leaders have appointed one of their own as school board liaison and will soon name two representatives to follow.

New Commissioner Kristen Linfante will serve as the liaison to the school district and will be responsible for staying informed on its actions, including attending meetings whenever possible.

"I personally think it's something that should have happened a long, long time ago," she said.

President Dave Brumfield mentioned the arrangement announced during a meeting Monday. In an interview later, he said the two representatives, who also will be selected from the commission, will have in-person meetings with school directors to keep each other abreast of important issues -- and perhaps help save the municipality money.

"I think sometimes we lose some big-picture opportunities just because none of us can be aware of everything," Mr. Brumfield said.

He hopes to have an idea of which commissioners the board will recommend on the agenda at the next meeting.

For years school board members and commissioners met in private "joint steering committee" meetings. When the municipality hired a new solicitor, his interpretation of the law determined those meetings should be public, so they were ended in that form a few years ago, Mr. Brumfield said.

Any meetings between the new representatives and school board members will be open to the public and advertised in advance, he added.

Much of the concern involves the Mt. Lebanon High School renovations and most recently the change in traffic patterns and student parking.

As of Jan. 18, student parking is off site at Mt. Lebanon United Lutheran Church on Washington Road and in the Dixon Field parking lot on Cedar Boulevard. Students are no longer permitted to park on the campus during the day.

Additionally, Horsman Drive will be closed to vehicular traffic during construction this month. There will be pedestrian access to Entrance C-28 on Horsman Drive from the Visitor North parking lot but no pedestrian access to that entrance from the South parking lot. Some citizens have expressed safety concerns about parking arrangements.

Board President Josephine Posti said the board's working relationship with the municipality is better than it's ever been since she joined the board in 2005. Naming a liaison is a great idea, she said, noting that they already communicate often, even though it's not practical to attend each other's meetings faithfully.

"I think the goal would be to just dispel the perception that the two bodies don't talk to each other frequently," she said.

In terms of savings, Mr. Brumfield said both jurisdictions probably have heavy equipment that isn't used regularly and perhaps could be shared, saving money for each.

"I don't care if we save [the school district] money or if they save us money; either way it benefits the residents," he said.

In a related matter, police Chief Coleman McDonough told commissioners that police have been monitoring parking around the high school as part of regular patrols. He said things went smoothly Monday, and so far, officers did not see students sidestepping the new parking restrictions to park on neighborhood streets.