Dormont manager, solicitor turn in resignations
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Dormont manager Gino Rizza and municipal solicitor Deron Gabriel have resigned.
Council President Bill McCartney made the announcement earlier this week.
Council has started the process once again to fill the manager's position, which has become a revolving door; the solicitor will remain on the job until a replacement is found.
"It's just a whole bunch of these issues that got all conflated, and he was in the middle of it, and he decided with the new council it would be better for him to move on," Mr. McCartney said of Mr. Rizza, who submitted his resignation Friday.
After a tenure marked by various controversies, Mr. Rizza likely saw the writing on the wall when a new council was seated, Mr. McCartney said.
"I think if you look back, the folks [who] ran for council and won pretty much campaigned on that issue," Mr. McCartney said, adding that it's fair to say the resignation was voluntary.
Mr. Rizza didn't return phone messages for comment. Council approved his resignation at Monday night's agenda meeting.
Hired in 2009, Mr. Rizza was Dormont's ninth manager since 2001.
Mr. Gabriel, who has worked with the borough since late 2008, said he alerted council via email that he would leave his post.
In that email, which he provided to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Mr. Gabriel said he discussed the resignation Friday with Mr. McCartney.
"I just have some other professional obligations right now that demand my attention," Mr. Gabriel said in a phone interview Monday, declining to elaborate.
He will remain as solicitor until his replacement is hired.
As the borough moves forward with a comprehensive plan, traffic calming and other areas, it needs someone who is better able to advise officials in those areas, Mr. McCartney said.
"Deron's been pretty effective here for the borough, but we need to move in another direction," Mr. McCartney said.
The council president and Councilwoman Joan Hodson met with department heads Wednesday afternoon to coordinate the next step.
Since the borough has no designated second in command -- former assistant manager Ian McMeans left to serve as Homestead's manager in August -- the manager duties will be split between Mr. McCartney and recreation director Greg Saulsbery.
Mr. McCartney, who oversees environmental components of highway programs for engineering and consulting firm Michael Baker Corp., said residents with day-to-day questions about borough business could call the main line or Mr. Saulsbery.
Council will also meet next week with Michael Foreman of the Governor's Center for Local Government Services to begin discussing Mr. Rizza's replacement. Mr. McCartney said involving that organization will keep the search process fair and unbiased.
Resident Ryan Kelley said after Monday night's meeting that he plans to apply for the borough manager position.
After hearing murmurs that then-Councilwoman Heather Schmidt would resign last year, Mr. Kelley, a technical support analyst for UPMC who also studied politics at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University, submitted a letter expressing interest in her seat that he said then was not acknowledged by council.
Council appointed Mr. McCartney to replace Ms. Schmidt, and the new council voted him in as president at its first meeting last month.
In response to a Right to Know request submitted Wednesday for Mr. Rizza's letter of resignation and other documents, borough secretary Vickie McGurk replied: "The borough will require 30 days to review this request in its entirety, given the legal considerations involved."
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
