Allegheny County Header
File #: 12813-23    Version: 1 Name:
Type: Motion Status: Approved
File created: 9/22/2023 In control: Chief Clerk
On agenda: 9/26/2023 Final action: 9/26/2023
Title: Motion of the Council of Allegheny County directing Council's solicitor to file suit against the Allegheny County Chief Executive and/or the Fifth Judicial District Court of Common Pleas, seeking a declaratory judgment regarding conditional use of County-owned property, specifically the former Shuman Center site.
Sponsors: Bethany Hallam, Jack Betkowski, Anita Prizio, Patrick Catena, Paul Klein, Robert Palmosina, Olivia Bennett
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Motion of the Council of Allegheny County directing Council's solicitor to file suit against the Allegheny County Chief Executive and/or the Fifth Judicial District Court of Common Pleas, seeking a declaratory judgment regarding conditional use of County-owned property, specifically the former Shuman Center site.

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WHEREAS, pursuant to Article IV, §2(k) of the Home Rule Charter of Allegheny County, Allegheny County Council is vested with the power and duty to “[b]y ordinance, lease, convey, vacate abandon, or permit the use of County land, buildings, or other real or personal property.”; and

WHEREAS, the language of the Charter does not exempt the Chief Executive, the Courts, or any County row officer or other officer or official from the requirement that transactions of this nature must be authorized by ordinance; and

WHEREAS, from time to time, the Allegheny County Chief Executive has introduced ordinances in accordance with this Charter provision in order to allow the County to execute contracts with business, nonprofit, and governmental entities to have exclusive use of County-owned property in order to undertake their activities; and

WHEREAS, bills of that nature introduced by the current Chief Executive in his last term of office alone include (but are not limited to): 12786-23 (allowing Allegheny County Budo-Kai to lease a fairgrounds building in South Park), 12787-23 (authorizing lease of another South Park fairgrounds building to Mon Valley Express Drum & Bugle Corps), 12788-23 (authorizing the lease of two buildings and an amphitheater in South Park to South Park Theater, Inc.), 12712-23 (authorizing the lease of an exhibit building gin South Park to Jurassic Alcove, Inc.), 12632-23 (authorizing the continued operation of Angora Gardens in White Oak Park by UPMC Western Behavioral Health), 12631-23 (authorizing the lease of property in Deer Lakes Park for farming by Beacom Farms for farming activities), 12630-23 (authorizing the leas...

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