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Mary Jo Wise - Leading Locally in Allegheny County · The Right Side of the Rivers

• You're listening to the right side of the rivers posted by Todd McCollum and Russell Dryer. This show tackles public issues from a Pittsburgh point of view, offering common sense conversations, right-of-center perspectives, and a focus on the people, policies, and principles shaping Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, and Pennsylvania. Hello again everyone and welcome to the right side of the rivers. This is the official podcast of the City Pittsburgh Republic and committee. And I am your host and the chairman, Todd McCollum, and writing shotgun again after a couple of show hiatus here is the vice chairman, Russell Dryer. Well, Russell, welcome back. Great to be back with you, Todd. We've been a minute. It has been and we've you've been missed. Don't give me wrong. You've been missed, but we've had, uh, saw people standing in for you. I lean and, and Bob Crankvic. Oh, I see, I've seen the Nielsen ratings in their popping. I know. They're, uh, they're great. They're great. Two, uh, two great fillings. 40. It's good to know we have a deep fan share. Oh, we definitely do. Lashow was Joe. Yeah. And running for House Representative District 20, he happens to be mine. He ate 20 Joe, Gullia. Yep. Hey, guy. Yes. And, uh, well, you saw the show, of course, and, uh, you know, he, good explanation of Joe talked about current events. The recent, uh, PA Supreme Court decision that's going to defend, uh, women's safe spaces and women sports. He obviously talked about his race and his district specifically. And, um, it was good to, uh, but to see we've got some great people running against, running again this cycle. Yeah. He's a, he's a great candidate. Well, versed, uh, she's going to be tough to beat. We know that, but, but if anybody can overcome that, uh, it certainly be Joe. Um, and we, we look forward to sporting him through, uh, up the, up the roof all and getting them over the finish line here. Um, we've got some great great committees. Yes. That can help him in those, in his district. And, uh, I will be out in my neighborhood in force for him. And, uh, it's going to be great. And he's, we're, we're going to finish, uh, fish strong for him. Maybe have an upset is, is in the works for sure. Uh, let's, and let's keep that theme going all around the county. Yes, for sure. Um, good news for us, you and I, uh, congratulations. You've been, uh, elected as the vice chair for another four-year term. Uh, I've been fortunate enough to also been elected for the chair for, for, for, for, for, for your term. Uh, so it's you and I together again, still, and, uh, we, we've, we've come a long way. We have. And we're going to keep, um, pushing the ball forward here. So I'd like to, uh, just take a moment. Obviously, congratulate you and thank, uh, thank the great people on our great members in the city of Pittsburgh, Republican Committee for, and trusting us for another, another four-year term. And I did know that, uh, those are marshes, as well, too. Um, we're lot going on here. There's no shortage of news. Uh, whether you're here or not here, we're, we've got plenty of news to cover. Um, and we have a great guest today to help cover with us. A lot of county news. And, uh, I think we got the right person to come in here and, and talk about it, uh, lunch introduce our guest. Sure. Absolutely. Um, our guest for this evening is a friend of our committees. Uh, she is a, conservative stalwart over in the moon area. Uh, her name is Mary Jo Wies. She ran for county council in district one, uh, last election cycle in 2025. She is a current moon township supervisor, where she's been on the job, uh, since 2023, and it is our great pleasure to bring in our our dear friend, Mary Jo Wies. Welcome in. Thank you. I'm happy to be here. Mary Jo, welcome to the right side of the rivers. Uh, watch a teller, everybody about yourself. They're not familiar. Um, a little bit about myself, um, township supervisor for about two and a half years, um, have lived in moon about 19 years, originally from Greensburg, um, Pennsylvania, ahead, um, landed in moon because I attended Robert Morris College, um, or university, or M.U. That's right. That habits, um, calling it a college. Um, so ended up in DC for 12 years was a contractor for the federal government. We turned under the moon township area, spent, um, 10 years, um, taking care of my son who was now 22, and, um, return back to work. I have worked in nonprofit sector since, um, and at a juncture where my late husband had passed decided that I had always been connected in politics in one way or another and decided to run for township supervisor. That's where I landed. Well, that's a, that's a booming, uh, a booming, a moon township is a booming economic area in the county. Oh, my, no, you've got, um, there's a great, great Republican committee out there, and, um, tell us a little bit about, uh, you know, how they helped during your, you know, during your 2025, County Council campaign and, um, they were your boots on the ground, etc. Yeah, I can't say enough about our committee. Um, the, when I was running for County Council, there were 15 municipalities in about five committees that I worked with and they're all stellar. Um, but ours is just the moon township committee is just large and, um, comes up with a lot of very innovative ideas. And yes, you're right, they are boots on the ground. They did, um, probably about a thousand postcards for me wrote them, melt them out, um, did door knocking for me, um, has some really interesting and innovative ways of, um, having the social media presence and, um, I just can't say enough about our committee. I'm not a committee member per say, but I attend all of our committee meetings because I just think it's important. Yeah, they do a great job out there. Um, given back to you being the, uh, on, on the township board there, uh, Tosol, but about to make up of the board here. So I think that's important. We were talking about that before. Yeah. So, um, when I started, we were, um, we're, uh, at large, um, five individuals on the board. Um, when I first began, we were, um, four Republicans, one Democrat. We are now, um, three Republicans to two Democrats. Um, we do work in the very bipartisan, scenario, however, um, you know, things can be contentious at times. Um, noon township is about little over 27,000 people right now. We are growing, um, we've some bounds. And, um, our budgets are right around 21 million. Yeah. Did you say your balanced budgets are, our, yes, let me guess. Yeah. I'm balanced by your budget. Correct. Yes. Is that because you guys truly do work together, the, the, the, the division in parties or, or is it because one party holds the majority and leads by example, I guess. Um, you know, I think that we work in tandem. I think it's important. I will say that, um, we have a, again, we have a stellar, um, group of individuals that work for our township, our, um, township manager keeps things, um, in check and keeps things, balanced herself. We have a great group of finance people. And when they, um, when they share the information about the budgets, um, and we have the people come in and kind of do their Christmas list or their wish list. And then we have three or four meetings and we, little things down until we make it to the, to the, to the balance or what we, what we need. Yeah. I just wanted to talk maybe something current events with respect to, to your township. Um, eight of centers seem to be looking for space, um, in the Pittsburgh, Meturary, now again, County. Is there any talk? With your township about data centers? Yes. What's, what's, what's, what's going on? Yeah, we had, um, one group approach us now. They, they backed away. But what it did is it started the conversations. And so, um, we are in the process right now. It looking at, um, locations, the data centers, where we, where we would allow them to be within the township, um, the size of the data centers, um, the different types of, um, technology, that the data centers have at this point in time, using a continuous, um, water loop system, you know, did not really, um, not continue to use your water resources water. Um, and we have had a couple discussions in our workshop meetings in, um, very soon, and they don't have a date. Um, we are going to invite the public to come in and make their comments on what their thoughts are on the data centers. Um, we recognize it were close to the airport. We recognize our proximity to the city. And we are making assumptions at some point. Somebody is going to come in and, you know, say they want to put a data center in our township. And I would assume, um, I would assume you have the the acreage you have there could be several, several sites that could be developed. Right. Um, one thing we're looking at is that we have because of COVID. We have commercial buildings that, um, are vacant. And so we're looking at, you know, some of those spaces that might make sense, um, not near communities, not near residential areas, buildings that would not necessarily, um, be desirable anymore from a rental perspective. So looking at those kinds of pieces of land as, as options. Yeah. Well, I was going to ask it is the discussions up based off of the land that was formally the old airport. Is that an area that you're looking at? No, I wouldn't say that we're looking at it because it's where the old airport is maybe some old office parks near the near there. Yeah. And since the airport has just been brought up now, what your thoughts on the new airport are you happy that it's out there? Is it, is it, is it, is it a change day thing in Moon Township, having the new airport out there? I don't know that I've personally have noticed or that, um, residents have come to me and spoken about the airport per se. What I would say is that I had two opportunities before it was open to, um, take tours of the airport. Um, I do think that the county and the airport authority did an extraordinary job of getting that accomplished, um, in, you know, a timely manner. I just took a trip recently and was able to use it from the perspective of the consumer. And I would say that everything went really well. I'm very impressed with our airport. Yeah. And I know that with respect to the airport and data centers, uh, the way that the airport powers itself. That's a great model potentially for, for data centers that they may or may not move in to Moon Township. They have their own energy on site. I think, um, former, uh, former county executive Fitzgerald said if the power, if the grid goes down in the world, the, the Pittsburgh International Airport can continue running because they have, uh, gas, well, natural, gas, they have their own, they have their own energy. So that would certainly be an ingredient that these data centers would need as well. Right. So there's a working model there. Right. I'm looking at in one other comment about the data centers is the fact that you do need that redundancy or you need that additional, um, energy source in case there's this problem with the data center. And even the reality is it doesn't have to be immune. It could be, you know, higher, or it could be at the airport, you know, so you don't have to have that battery back up or whatever you're making for us. And as a secondary source of energy, you know, it's all, I mean, there's it's pretty fascinating. I know around the county, that's a big issue in, in, in, in sanitorial race 38. Uh, I know, our great, one of our great friends and a great candidate that's running up their Thomas West, uh, will be having a, actually around table discussion on data centers in his, in his district next Wednesday, July 22nd. So if anybody's, if folks are interested in attending, look, look up Thomas West, Thomas West for Senate district 38, and you'll find information. Right. I thought I think we've shared that on our social with shared as well. We shared it. Uh, Mary Joe, uh, you ran for county council last year. I was on to take it with you um, your thoughts of of of the county is a whole, yes. Uh, yeah. I ran for county council mainly because I do believe that governments, um, and especially the municipal and the county government, their, their priorities are really public safety, um, parks and infrastructure. And the money being spent on the county level is going into pet projects and into departments where, think should and actually be. And so looking at that and the perspective that I have and the perspective on the ability of, of watching a municipality, um, balance a budget and run a run a, we're going to errone a township in a, in a appropriate manner. I felt that I could bring that expertise to the, to the county. Um, and I, you know, I've watched in the last year last, lots, six months, seven months, what's been happening and it's, a lot of interesting perspectives. We need, uh, certainly some stability or balance error for sure. Right. No, we need to uh, Suzanne, our friends, Suzanne just did some great work. The other day, minimizing things that are going to go on about it and stuff so we applaud her. But, um, yeah, thank you. Thank you. Suzanne, we are going to have to, uh, create a ring of steel around her and preserve that seat and work again, other ones as well. Mary Jo always ask, uh, what makes you a Republican, what makes you conservative, what where did those roots originally from? So, um, I need to admit that they weren't my roots. Um, I grew up in a conservative family. However, they were more of that Kennedy, um, Democrat that we've spoken about. My grandfather was a coal miner. My parents were in education. Um, and my late father, um, was actually a Democrat as well. Um, but at some point, um, my husband became a Republican and I, didn't change my party, but I absolutely, um, fell within everything that he believed in. Um, and at one point, I just said to myself, you know what, I identify as a Republican and that is where I, where I want to be. Um, and so I changed my party and I'm happy I did. Well, we, we talk about, we talk about this all the time, you know, in the inner circle. We, we're pretty convinced that there are tens of thousands of people, just like you here in, in our great county that, uh, need to hear your story and need to hear from, from folks like us on the other side. We can give them, give them give them a good message and let them know that if they wanted to try us on for an election cycle or two, we're here. Right. Right. For sure. Um, Mary Jo, you also mentioned what we've talked about before the show here. You do a lot of work downtown. I do. Um, your thoughts of downtown. You said that you generally feel safe, but there are reasons why you feel safe. Uh, uh, so why we're going to small university campus. Um, I work on urban campus downtown. We do have 17 officers on the campus, um, and near the peak near P.P.G. And I feel very safe during the day. I, um, on on my campus. I do have to say that, you know, in the winter, if you want to go see a theater or go do something, um, that I'm not necessarily the one that's willing to go, um, far walk to a restaurant and then come back to the theater. I like to be kind of more centric to my parking garage and things like that. I, um, think that the city is getting a little more safer in general now that, um, the new marison. I think that they're making, making strides. But I think there's some work to be done. I imagine you pass some of those homeless encampments of work up, uh, getting off the parkway there at, uh, yeah. Grand Street and for the for theater for the game. Yeah. It is there, uh, before they put all the rocks in, um, is there anything you ever seen that was like, yeah, it's a little uncomfortable, a little even though you feel safe, you're always going to see something. I will say that, uh, that, yeah, there are times where I've been asked for, um, money or, um, there have been some less than just observable situations. Um, there was a individual, um, that took off their clothes, you know, in front of a building. Um, and those are things that you don't necessarily want to want to be part of or see. But, um, I will say that the law enforcement that I've seen has just done their job you know, taking care of the scenario. Is that across the board or is that your police officer, the, do you see a difference between, uh, the work that the city police officers do versus the port authority or your individual department or the sheriff's department, uh, or do you think that it's, that it's pretty straightforward? Um, I think that there's probably a difference in, and, you know, the, uh, in, in the way different officers do with things, um, based on their governing body or, you know, where they are, um, again, I feel like the officers at the university do a very job. Yeah. No, obviously, this is this is this point park is this where, uh, it's going to say we have a, we have a current, our current pirates manager at the attended point park. You know, that's, that's, well, my son actually, my son went to point park. Did he? Yeah, my son went to point park. So, uh, and that was one of the first things when, you know, we would go downtown and do the tour with them and you say, yeah, this is an urban campus. This is a, a vertical campus. I think is the way they describe it. Right. But it's a great, I mean, it's a great spot. Uh, it's a great spot to go to school. Um, you always sounds like you've got a lot of law enforcement on on staff and, um, they're, they're making sure the kids are, kids are safe. Yeah, it's a great campus. Lots of entertainment and lots of talent and, yeah. From someone who's familiar with, uh, the clear, you laws. I'm sure you're, your, your officers probably pull their air out over, uh, their, their clear reports. That's the reporting of the college crime in, in the area. I would, would not want to be that person because that person probably pulls his hair out on a regular basis. But I'm familiar with that reporting process and, uh, I don't envy those guys, or whoever's doing those reports for you. Uh, well, and do, and do, can't, and do can't, it's not too far away. I wonder if there's some, some overlap there between, between, uh, do can't campus police and point park. I would think so. Some coordination there. Yeah. I don't know the answer to that. I will tell you that, um, Robert Morris even has scenarios with the police based on the fact that I'm a supervisor, um, you know, in fire safety, is always in the shoe with those kids as well. Yeah. So, pots and, oh yeah, yeah, you can imagine. Right. Well, Russell, uh, like I said, the, the county is, uh, not short of, uh, news, and things to talk about, uh, some of it more breaking in the past 24 hours and others will probably hold off and, and let that situation, uh, play itself out a little bit better. But, uh, the warden, yeah, of the county jail, uh, who, uh, who took a year to find, uh, work for, work for the county for a year and has, uh, moved on. I believe he cited, uh, family reasons to move on to be closer to, uh, to some family. It was, uh, offer that couldn't be refused. Absolutely. Uh, Mary Jo, you'll be, you were familiarizing yourself with all the county, uh, entities. Um, I think it's as terrible. Uh, I think it's, it's a shame. There's probably more to it than we know, but, but good for, uh, warden, when guard for, for moving on and being close to his family, uh, the jail has been, uh, in the news for a variety of reasons and most of them not good, uh, but it seemed like it was, it was turning the corner a little bit under some new management. And, uh, now we were back, uh, sort of like the, uh, Pittsburgh Police Chief, we're, we're searching for a new jail warden again that does gonna make everybody happy. Um, your thoughts, Mary Jo, on the jail and its operations and, and how people see the jail. Yeah. So I, I, again, you know, public safety is the most important part and then having, um, the employees be, be safe as well. Um, you just hope that the, um, in Chamoron or the warden that they bring in, um, makes certain that they're not opening that jail up to two issues. So they keep that seems like the existing warden has, has, um, managed things effectively and you hope that they keep keep that tone about what they're doing. Yeah. The alcohol going, going, we're in seem to have, uh, generated a consensus among the, uh, anti jail element and the, the who work in the jail as well. It's on about the prison abolitionists. Yes, those, those folks and there's plenty of them around, uh, some of them sit on the jail oversight board themselves. Uh, but he, he seemed to have, have reached a court with them. Yeah, absolutely. Created some, uh, some things that were, uh, common sense to everybody apparently. And I know we're, call the source of common sense here is, uh, on the right side of the river. On the right side of the river. But well, I know a lot of emphasis is put on, um, um, um, those that are incarcerated, maybe that's the wrong term to use because this isn't a prison. This is a jail. Um, however, you know, there's, there's another side to it. You have, you have, you have staff there. So I think if, if, if the focus is on everyone safety, those folks that are, that are there to, um, you know, pay for, pay for some crimes that they've committed. And, and additionally, if the focus is, is making sure that the staff is safe. Well, that's certainly a win all the way around. Are you concerned about, uh, another nationwide search and the the cost on on the county to find that person again and how long that's going to take and the the cost of the taxpayers of that or is it going to be, uh, suddenly somebody shows himself internally. Yeah. I think we were familiar with that in the chief of police search over and over. You know, I think if, if the, um, so we have, we have an interim warden right now, correct? Yes. And I've spoke to her. That's the deputy warden clerk. And, uh, she seems to be, she's on, yes. She seems to be a solid. We like her. I like her. Um, yeah. I mean, if they want to, if they want to do a search here, locally or nationwide, I think I think that, some, some, some, some are perspective is if, if Connie Clark, who is a local, local person and has been, been involved in their correctional, uh, system for since, I don't know, since, uh, before 2013. So she's definitely got a, uh, a pedigree for this kind of work, right? I think if she can, can, can, at least perform to, uh, to where the, the current warden was performing if not do better. Maybe, uh, maybe she gets the job. There you go, your, your thoughts on a search for a new warden. Um, I would like to see it be local. I think that national searches, sometimes they produce great candidates, um, are timely and costly. Um, if, and I'm not, I don't know how interested the interim warden is and, you know, pursuing that as her is her career. Um, I'd like to see it be somebody local, but, um, just don't know how to do it. But we do want the best person for the job. Right. We want the best person for the, the, the, the, the, the, the untimely desk that are, they're occurring in the jail. We want them to be minimized. We can't promise anything across the board, but we want them to be minimized. Uh, we want the, the jail guards doing their job and not letting contraband into the jail. And, uh, we want them safe. And I think that, uh, the best person for that job is the person who I want. Right. I, I am concerned about, uh, when you do these nationwide searches, it seems like your, uh, uh, uh, just finding some renegade will do the job until the next best offer comes along. And, unfortunately, in this case, that's, that's what happened. Whether he was looking for it or not, it happened and, uh, with no allegiance to this area, he was often running. Do you, uh, I don't know the answer to this. I'm asking, do you know what the circumstances were with the current warden was was was he a local guy? I don't remember how the time belief he came in from the West Coast. I believe he came in from the West Coast and he is statement of leaving the area and going North Carolina was that he has family in North Carolina. Okay. A daughter, right. It wasn't just some random it's, mm-hmm. Someone that you would understand, uh, leaving, you know, like Joe Rocky talked about. It's, it's, it's a, you know, it's a, what do they call that? Alt migration, from Allegheny County certainly to the state of North Carolina is a real and ongoing threat to, uh, our, our tax base and our, I guess, uh, what do you call that? Our, uh, intellectual capital that is people, right, you know, our young folks, um, are leaving and I know Joe, Joe talked about that a lot on on his campaign trail that he wanted to, the broadnar tax base, bring businesses here. So he wouldn't have to go to North Carolina to visit his, the visit is, his grandkids. So I, it's kind of, uh, only fitting that our current warden is, is leaving, uh, for North Carolina and that's sort of a self fulfilling prophecy there by Joe. Rocky. I mean, that was what of like concerns when I was running for County Council, one of the things that I would bring up is that, you know, I have a sonny's 22. I don't really want to see him leave. However, what is Pittsburgh offering at this juncture and Allegheny County, um, from a workforce development and from a cultural perspective and, you know, all the things. Yeah, taxes. Right, the taxes were high. How do you walk into a, as an individual starting out, you know, if you're starting home price in the suburbs is about $350,000. That's not really starting home, but where do you want to live? Right. You know, so. Well, look forward to seeing better, better things from the jail as far as, you know, stability. And these are meetings that you go to, the jail, I have been to several of the jail oversight boards. I've, uh, well, you know that I've pointed out some, uh, abuse or, or, uh, some doge issues shall we say in the jail that affected both the county and the city, particularly about city, medics respond into the jail when, uh, the jail had a contract for EMS services. And, uh, Deputy Warden Clark was one of the persons that I talked to, she came up to me. She approached me afterwards and say, hey, this is something that we've had on our radar for a while. Thanks for bringing it up because we were kind of shouting into a tunnel and a bist there. And, uh, now somebody's, you know, I came with the receipts and, uh, they appreciated that and, uh, I said, well, just, would the contract? That's what I asked. Marrow Connor was the controller at the time and was very interested in the information that I had. And they couldn't wait to take it off of me and then, uh, when I asked for follow up on it, things were quite a bit more silent, uh, but the bottom line is the situation rectified itself, and it's a better situation. And the city is not answering as many emergency calls or non emergency calls to the jail and that's a good thing. Well, and hopefully, the other folks are either, that would be, you know, the folks that are contracted to do it, hopefully, hopefully they're not responding as much as much either that would be good news. Yeah, but there's a lot of games played in the jail. Keep in mind, you know, you're in, you're in jail and every, sometimes you need a break from jail apparently and every stubbed toe and every way to me, uh, you know, some things that probably could be handled in the, in the, in the jail, uh, more efficiently requires, uh, trips to the hospital and such, because they've had some, uh, a desk in a jail and, you know, the, the, the people who work care-scare to death because they have an oversight board watching over them and, uh, it is unfortunate the amount of deaths that have happened inside the jail. Their drug will be the last word on that if, if you, if you have one at all. Um, I would think that we want to take some of the burden off of the county and the city, the city EMTs and want to do it from a contract perspective. I think that that makes the most sense. It gives, um, quicker turnaround, um, and just takes that, that burden off of the other officers or other EMTs. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I would, I would tend to agree with that just because we seem to be short staff anyway in the city. Now obviously, when you're in the city, maybe the response time, uh, would be a little bit less in, in responding to an emergency that's in the city. However, if, um, if we're short staff, already, police staffing, etc. And you have, and you have some emergencies around the city, um, well, simultaneously, you've got something that needs some address, you know, some emergency vehicles that need this batch of the jail. I think, um, I think, I think, caught me a contracting that out, uh, to a nearby municipality. And it was there. It just wasn't the, the, the people on the other end of the contract weren't acknowledging the contract. They just weren't meeting their meeting the obligation to. But that's not the only county story. We dug up an interesting story about the public defenders office and the, the district attorney's office. Before we jump into that, if you don't mind, I know we just passed over it briefly, but I just wanted to do again, go back to the great Suzanne Filiage, the only Republican on county council who just put a stop. The county council wanting to, to basically put a referendum on the November ballot that would change the home rule charter that would, basically, allow county council to get into our pockets for staff, for benefits, and for potentially additional salary money. So, right, again, and because of burden on the pension as well, correct, correct. So Suzanne, I think, recognized, well, number one, um, that's, that's a slippery slope when you want to change the home rule charter to sort of uncapped, uh, the spending that the county council can do. So yeah, just wanted to, before, you know, make sure that people know there will be no referendum on the ballot. We don't, we don't have to worry about that. Unless, uh, you know, less things change, but as of right now, relevant to that relevant to that relevant, that we're still other things in play here that correct, correct, correct. Okay, I'm sorry. You were talking about, um, no, because you, you've had an interest in this, this D.A. story as well too. Yeah, the D.A. story. Um, so this is an interesting story. So we have, let's, I guess let's set the stage a little bit here if we can. The Allegheny county, um, created legislation where they said they are not going to cooperate with ICE. Now that includes county employees, a public defender is a county employee. So we had a situation where, um, we had a situation where someone was, was assaulted in a restaurant in Lawrenceville. And the public defender used the victims immigration status as a bargaining chip to get the, you know, look for a play, look for a lesser, lesser sentence, um, against the individual that, that, uh, assaulted her. Well, the judge, the judge said, uh, she, the judge did not want, because of this crazy, uh, ICE situation, this, this non-cooperational, racial, and ICE agreement that they have, they did not want this individual's name to be read aloud in the court hearing, which is not something that you, or I, or Mary Jo, why is it's not a, it's not something that they'd allow for us. I mean, so, right, this has got a lot of your reminder. Let's show them, but that's, that wasn't a case here, but there, there are some circumstances, but this is not one of this. So this is, um, so, you know, this is, this is a, a very interesting story where, um, a, you know, sort of a, a, a, this non-cooperational with ICE agreement has created all this secondary drama in court a law that is supposed to just prosecute the law. Has nothing to do with the person's immigration status or not. It's just to hear the case, can do abnormal court proceedings, but because of this, the judge was hypersensitive to, uh, the legislation that was passed, and, um, the other day, they made sure that the person's, uh, name address and, you know, details that would be public information. The response were, yeah, we're not, we're not entered into, into court records here. So that was, Mary Joseph's, the, uh, pro immigration people have, uh, argued for census became an issue that they didn't want law enforcement, asking questions about immigration status, because it would keep people in the shadows. And it would seem that the public defenders office now is using that, at least in this case, not saying this is a blanket tactic of theirs, uh, in this particular case was used in that manner, your thoughts. My thoughts are that if you're in a situation of criminal scenario that your name should be out there, that, that they're just, that protection from a scenario of being a criminal, shouldn't shouldn't be the scenario. Yeah. And I really wonder if, because we, everyone knows the public defenders name on the way, right? So I just wonder if there will be any, let's say disciplinary action taken against this individual, because they talked, that was part of that legislation that there could be this one. This was an attack on the victims immigration status where their family is well. So that's what put it in this realm of, uh, you know, the reverse of what they had had, had promised they didn't want to happen. And it's not, and it's not like we don't feel for the victim, right? Right. It's, it's, and I just will us say it in a way, if, if I'm, if I'm knowingly participating in a, in a, uh, card counting scheme at the casino, do you think they're going to, nicely ask me to leave? You know what I mean? Like they're going to, you, you will get thrown out and you won't be able to come back. You, you kind of, in other words, I think these are, these are adults. These are very logical people. I believe they know what they've gotten themselves into here. You know, for one reason or another, they sort of, you know, they, they, they, they're in this situation because they put themselves in this situation. And it seems to me a little bit unfair to everybody else that has a court hearing, that are, that our, that our information, uh, would be, would be public knowledge, but in this case, you know, if you're, if, if I was a victim in this case, everyone would know it and, uh, it would be public record, but in this case, we're, we're not going to do it. So, again, I, you know, when they, when they created these laws, uh, they're probably didn't think about this. This isn't just happening here in Allegheny County. It is happening, uh, in other places where there is this, this legislation to knock a robbery with ice, and it just, it just, you know, the judge was so hypersensitive to it. The cheetah shut that down right away. And so we can't talk, we can't talk about this person. Let's see, Dr. Diffus, it does show that the district attorney does have some power in, in protecting victims' rights regardless of your immigration status, though. Correct. So, and that's a good thing. And that's why we wanted, uh, Mr. Zepalada retain his office and, and, we're glad he's there. Uh, it shows that that office has power. I've always kind of said that. Now there's, there's a precedent for it that, you know, if you're a victim in America, you deserve American justice. And, uh, the district attorney has, as, as, as, allowed for this person, regardless of immigration status to, uh, receive justice and this court case can, can go on. I, I would question would, uh, not outside of the realm of whatever, uh, county, uh, ordinances that there are involving this is, it was this just a strict matter of victim intimidation, which is a violation of the law to be in with. And I think that's something should be looked into and I hope, uh, the district attorney's, well, investigators are looking into that. A side, a side story to this story will be to see if there are any disciplinary actions filed against this public defender by the county, per their new legislation. Uh, that will be an interesting sidebar to this story. So I guess we'll know more if that happens. Um, but there's other news happening. It's a good story to follow, but, uh, but, uh, yeah, there's more to talk about, uh, some things that Mary Joe has, absolutely, reflecting the city where the where we can, uh, interact, interact, interact, overwhelmingly here here. You've been fought, you, uh, checked into this fire truck. I just, uh, so the city of Pittsburgh, um, is filing, um, an anti trust lawsuit against, uh, several fire truck makers. Okay. And, uh, they're claiming that, uh, they're claiming that these, that prices are inflated, um, they're, they're, they're, they're claiming that there's been long delays in parts and service, uh, for trucks as well. Um, and Mary, Joe, I know that you, this is something you deal with all the time, um, with you with your fleet and your fire department in moon. So why don't you tell us about, you know, some of the challenges that you have making sure that your equipment is up to date so you can protect the public. Right. So one of the scenarios is that most of our equipment was from the 1970s. So, and that's that's typical, um, you want to get the most use out of your equipment as you can. Um, but in the last budget season, we did, um, approve, $2 million for a new fire truck. Um, and it's going to take two years for us to actually have it delivered. Um, and so that is just the scenario that is happening within municipalities. Recently our fire department came to us because there was an existing fire apparatus, um, that they wanted to purchase and they asked, um, that we approve of about a money right under a million dollar so that we could, um, put that in our fleet. Now that one will be delivered a little sooner because it's an existing, um, truck. But I mean, this is, this is what is happening, um, throughout the country. Now the, the 2.4 million. Mm-hmm. Was that a, uh, was that a number that, that is going to get you a brand new truck? Is that like 90% of the payment or is that what a new truck costs? The two million is what the, what the, the new truck costs. Yes. Um, fitted to what standards we need, um, in the municipality, um, you know, there's considerations in southwest Pennsylvania. The truck needs to be able to work, really terrain, um, you know, certain size of buildings, skyscrapers, things of that nature. So there's a lot that needs to be considered in these, in the, in this west, west, west, west for quotes and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. And you said there were two trucks for you. So we had a, originally approved of truck last October in our budget for 2 million, um, but another, knowing that we needed to, um, replace our fleet, you know, soon because of the age of our fleet. Um, our fireman happened to be at a conference or a convention and had found another piece of equipment that was already in existence and one of the purchases. So we, um, approved money that was already in our budget. So that it could be spent, um, for the, for the, for the existing piece of equipment. Um, because of the scenario that exists where people were waiting, I mean, the municipalities are waiting for years for delivery on, it's not like the cop car, like, like police flee or, um, other mechanical situations where those, um, items are in existence and pretty readily obtainable. Yeah. And that, and that was part of the, again, that was part of their part of the lawsuit here is this, these long delays in getting their equipment. Now, what moves specifically, are you, how many, are you a volunteer force out there? We are an volunteer force. Our fire department does a great job of, um, of training our, our firemen, um, and also recruitment and retention. Um, I think we're, we're a model. How many other stations do you have? You have four, I believe. Yeah. So, um, we are going to be, in the process of the fire station that we have was connected to our previous, um, police station. We just did a major renovation or a major build on our police stations. So now we're taking it to the next level and redoing our one fire station. We're looking at what, you know, what the next process, part of the process is, you know, so you have four stations all under one banner or they all have their own structure. They're all under the main township. Yeah. It's not like, um, I know, you know, in different parts of the county years, you know, a township and may have four fire departments but they all have their own structure. No, I'm thinking like, like, Ross, right, there's, there's ever, in Ross, I know there's, there's Evergreen, there's Quail, there's Westview, these are all in, in Ross. They're all in different, I'm, excuse me, they're all in different areas of the township, but they're not, they're all blown, they're all tear fire department. Right. Right. One chief, oversea. One chief, oversea. Yep. Yep. Took me a minute to get there, but I thought an interesting wrinkle here in this story. I'm sure this is going to be interesting. An interesting story, wrinkle in this story is, you know, this lawsuit that the city is filing against these fire truck manufacturers is that that these long delays in getting, getting trucks, etc, getting apparatus, getting parts. Well, because of the pandemic, when the American recovery money came, the COVID money came to municipalities, municipalities and cities that were proactive in restoring their fleets got that money and put orders in and that is why there are these long delays in backlogs because of the demand because there was all this money in the system for municipalities. Right. And you know what we didn't do. Oh, yeah, it's, it's a wrinkle. I think I know what we didn't do. Well, we're going to, there's more, there's more to that too. There's more coming. That's a bad, but yeah, but we know that happened. Um, $335 million was awarded to the city of Pittsburgh. Some of that did go to the fleet. I think it was like 20 million. Okay. Oh, we can check. We can, we can check that later. But I believe it was about 20 million. But that's like I said, and this is a fleet that we knew is in disarray and on its last lag and we couldn't get right. And like Mary just said, the city of Pittsburgh has special issues. It's all been an issue. We went, when ordering fire apparatus equipment, the narrow streets, the hillie terrain, uh, brick streets and some occasions. And it's, it's difficult to, to get a vehicle to fix that, uh, spec, spec and deliver the, the amount of, uh, water that's, that's required to handle that. Um, Mary, Joe, did you guys receive, uh, COVID money? We did receive COVID money. However, I wasn't there during that time of spending. Um, and I'm not 100% sure what we ultimately, like we're always allocated. Yeah. But you guys are working towards a constant renewal of your fire department. I'm sure you're police department. Get say a regular turn of vehicles. Yeah. We actually just made a, um, when we were doing the, the budgets for last year, we made a conscious decision to have, um, funding that would just go to the, um, repair and restoring our fire apparatus and also, our roads because the roads need to be, um, maintained their on a cycle every 10 years. So to make sure that we had enough money to, um, do that efficiently, um, something that we did. So yeah, we're very conscious of that. You guys have private EMS or, uh, like, it is a private EMS. Yeah. Belly and the authority. Yeah. The authorities are working on the report here. I'm a butcher being the smart. It's not. It's a guy. And knew what I wanted to knew what I was asking. But yet you have an ambulance authority there. Yeah. And they pay for their, their own stuff and that's, that's being more mostly by. By, um, they, you know, they have a, they, they ask for money from residents every year. They have a drive. Um, I believe that the different municipalities within the area, including us, um, give us an amount in their budgets to the authority, um, to keep it maintained. And they're able to recruit, right, whoop some money by, uh, through insurance companies. Right. Right. And your, your public, uh, service, public works fleet is, is replenished on a regular basis as well. So, um, if you're asked about the water authority and of that nature, I'm talking about snow remover. No, no, the snow remover and everything we keep maintained. Yeah. It's interesting when, uh, when certain parties run things out, well, it without problem. It, it goes. Well, Mary Joe was talking about it earlier. They've got a good two party system over there. I mean, really, that there's a functional two party system. And they get things. Done for their community. I think that's, yeah, we're, we're going to get there eventually. We're going to get there eventually. But, uh, that's, that's the goal is to have, uh, a discussion around, maybe the same idea, but look at it from a different lens by different perspectives. And then we come together on the best solution. It's in the middle of that. And everybody works together for the best interest of, of the people of their, their community. We will get there. I hope so. So, I'll see some of it at least. It's unfortunate though that whenever I lived in DC and this was almost 20 years ago, that the two party systems seemed to work. The people did meet in the middle and the, the, the, the codamine now, especially the, the far left and their, the lack of willingness to work towards that center is, is just a, I guess, of the word would be disappointing because it's not serving the, the community in the public. Yeah. Yeah. Mary Joe, one more thing. We, I do want to just just briefly talk on, um, the state budget came out again, because you ran for County Council, I ran for County Council. It was sort of a thing, because I was running in the district that serve mostly Pittsburgh and, and PRT was, was a thing. The budget was passed. No additional money for public transit in, in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia. So that, that light rail that's going to come to the airport still isn't going to come anytime soon. No. Through your township. No. Um, and that's disappointing because I think the younger people would like to see that. And I think that that would be a scenario where that would keep, it may not be the only reason why they stay. But it might be a scenario where the young people would stay in the area and, you know, build their homes and, and work and feed into the tax base. Um, I do believe in public transit. I think it's important for the universities and the hospital systems and the things of that nature, people that need to get to work in different ways. And I think it's a little, it's a little disappointing that there is and some funding coming from the state. However, I also think that some of those private hospitals do need to come up, do need to support that system, you know, PRT. There's a lot of pressure. There's a lot of pressure on public transportation. Ride ridership is still only about at 50% of where it was before COVID. And so now you have the, so now there's a lot of pressure. You have the rise of the rise of tele, telework. You have the rise of the machines. Let's say with companies with autonomous taxis. Um, and so, and then the compound that with, you see, you're not getting that revenue from your fares compound that with the legacy costs that are fixed. Pensions, et cetera. There's a, yeah, this is improvement. Capital improvement. There's, there's, there's a huge gap. As a matter of fact, I believe PRT had to say you've read the rainy day fund. I think they used a hundred million dollars for pensions to plug some gaps in their budget. So I don't know what the answer is. I mean, you know, it's kind of like the Pittsburgh public schools where you can equate ridership to less students attending the 22 schools or whatever it is. Um, at some point maybe routes will have to be cut. Get out. I don't know where you get the revenue from unless you raise the rates, which that creates an additional hardship on the person that needs the public transportation in the first place. So there are a lot of pressures here on on public transportation. And, and I tried to study up on it, you know, learning on the job as I was campaigning. And I did change my mind on how important it was. And I understand now how it changes in eight hour work day to a, you know, 10 and a half hour work day. There has to be a better system. I don't know who pulls these bus routes out of out of a hat or something. But, and I had hoped that maybe, you know, PRT and you would start using some sort of AI generated bus schedule based on how often somebody rides and from where and maybe it's certain times that a day we could cut out certain bus stops without cutting out, you know, and maybe you have to walk an additional, you know, blocking a half. But at least you're catching a bus on a regular time and I'll have to switch from bus to bus to bus. And I know it talked to somebody and when I was in the south side and she lived across the river in the hill district and she said it, it took an hour and a half one way because you had to get the bus at a certain time and get off somewhere and get another bus from carcine street to the hill district, you shouldn't have to change. If you're, if you're able, if you're, if you were, if you were able, you could probably walk that in the bot 30 minutes. Right. That's not a mistake. If you're able, you know, it's not that far. Right. But, you know, the benefits of public transportation were for just a moment on a 60 degree day. Exactly. Exactly. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it wouldn't be conducive to a day today. But we did see, we did see how well the public transportation system can work. You know, with the draft, we had everyone using the tea to get in from South, from South Park stations, etc. So that was great to see that kind of rides were all filled. Yeah. So it was working great. But it was also sponsored. Now, did that matter? Well, there's, I think there's, you know, there's a working model that can be, there's a solution here. But right now, like I said, ridership is down 50% has been down 50% since COVID and the legacy cause continue to, to, to, to rise. So, we've got to, we've got to, our leadership is going to have to find some solutions here. Mary, Joe, we appreciate you coming in. It's been long overdue. We've tried to get you in and schedules didn't match up just right. But we've, we've glad you made it in any moon township, social media sites. Did you want to plug or, I'm sorry if I'm catching you on the phone. No, I would just say that we have one of the, I think we have, one of our hidden gems is our, is our Parks and Recreation Department. And so I would just encourage people to go to the moon township site and take a look at what we offer because we have, we have camps, we have, just different, different events. We had a sushkwash event recently. We have something, so we have a little bit for everybody and I would encourage people to check out our site. Yeah, Parks and Recreation Department is Parks and Recreation Department. Yeah. Hey, I'm told that we have some social media stuff available to us too. We do. And let's not forget the reminder everybody about Picklesburg, 2026. Picklesburg, 2026 starts this Thursday, North Shore, Roberto Comeni Bridge, Andy Warhol Museum, all those areas. You know, we usually do a ball game this time of year. We didn't do it this year, but just want to just want to remind everybody about the 11th annual now. 11th annual, Picklesburg festival in honor of the great H.J. Hines. You know, we got his start wasn't in catch. It was in Pickles. We even are not in Sharpsburg. It's on the, did I read it's on the USA today list of short list of great, great events. Yeah. I think I saw that. I saw that somewhere. So it's going to, it's going to be hot. So dress appropriately where your flip flops and get out the Picklesburg. All that Pickles do is prevents cramp. That really does. It really does. Um, but listen folks, uh, this was a great show. Show number 27. If you, if you like what you heard, we just kindly ask you to follow us on all our socials. That's PGH, GOP committee. That's PGH, GOP committee on X Facebook and the gram. Thank you, Rod. That's great. Thank you, Matt. You're welcome for having me. Yeah, great story. One time. Don't be a stranger. Come back again. Of course. And, uh, we look forward to having you. And he, uh, just going to hold the status quo of no breaking news here. You're going to run for counties. I could have or anything like, uh, or no, right now I am staying. We just got to hold off on your announcement on that. Yes. Yeah. Okay. We'll wait. We'll hold our breath on that. Um, five star producer, Missy on special assignment today, but yeah, that a great fill in with, uh, our with my domain man, one main man, sort number one bench guy from the bullpen. ITLFIN is in a house as always, the official mascot. Once again, you and I, four years, four more years of pushing the ball forward here, getting the message out and getting the message out, building a brand. That's what I like to think of as building a brand. And that's, and part of that is what we're doing right here on the right side of rivers. I good friend. I will see you in two weeks right here at this very table with ITLFIN. And another special guest at that time. So, uh, for my co-host in the Vice Chairman Russell Dreyer, I am the host Todd McCollum, the chairman of the City of Pittsburgh Republican Committee. This is the official podcast thereof, and we call it the right side of the rivers. Be good everybody and we'll see you in two weeks. Thanks for tuning in to the right side of the rivers. We appreciate you spending your time with us as we talk about the issues that matter to Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and beyond. Be sure to visit us online at PittsburghRepublicans.com for more updates, events, and ways to get involved. And don't forget to follow us on social media, we're on ex Facebook and Instagram at PGHGOP Committee. Until next time, stay informed, stay engaged, and stay on the right side of the rivers.