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When city council last month approved new lease agreements with tenants of McKeesport city hall, two agencies were conspicious by their absence.

Mon-Yough Area Industrial Development Authority and the McKeesport Industrial Development Authority were evicted from city hall on Thursday. They have moved to Suite 212 in the nearby Executive Building, said Dennis Pittman, chairman of MYAID and a board member of MIDA.

Other businesses and agencies with offices in the building had their leases renewed last month by city council on a 5-1 vote.

Pittman, who served as city administrator until Dec. 31, blamed the eviction on past political disagreements with Mayor Michael Cherepko and Solicitor J. Jason Elash. A letter from Elash to MIDA and MYAID, which shared an office in city hall, said that Pittman's continued presence in the building was damaging the morale of city employees.

"I just don't understand, with all of the issues going on today, how can this be that big of a priority?" Pittman said this week. "Wouldn't you think there would be other thngs that would command your time more than this?"

MYAID and MIDA "are going to get past this," he said.

. . .

Cherepko told the Almanac MIDA and MYAID were offered space in the old municipal building on Lysle Boulevard, but the agencies turned down the offer. In addition to McKeesport police and fire offices, the building houses city council chambers, the Mon-Yough Area Chamber of Commerce and a service center for now-state Sen. Jim Brewster.

The mayor declined further comment, saying it would only inflame the dispute.

Earlier this year, Cherepko said he had nothing against the agencies, but that there were better uses for the space MYAID and MIDA occupied.

. . .

MIDA was created to process low-interest loans for businesses moving into McKeesport, while MYAID plays a similar role for McKeesport and surrounding communities. MYAID has recently worked on projects with Allegheny County Economic Development, Chatham University and the Plum Borough YMCA, Pittman told the Almanac.

MIDA's board, which is appointed by the mayor and approved by city council, includes Maury Burgwin, executive director of the Mon-Yough Chamber; attorney Clifford Johns; former city controller John Knezovich; city councilman A.J. Tedesco Jr.; and Jim Haughey, executive director of the McKeesport Housing Corp. and the Redevelopment Authority of the City of McKeesport.

Last year, Pittman and Cherepko argued publicly over the investment of proceeds from the sewerage authority's early repayment of $24 million in debt owed to the city.

Cherepko has since accused Pittman and former Mayor Regis McLaughlin of dragging their heels on the paperwork necessary to complete the transaction.

. . .

MIDA and MYAID will continue to work on development projects in McKeesport and the surrounding communities, Pittman said. "We're going to continue to do business," he said. "The county recognizes us, the banks recognize us."

The agencies will not harbor any ill feeling toward the city, Pittman said. "We are going to be bigger and stronger people," he said. "I have one inquiry already for use of some property on the millsite. They would use us to package an reduced interest loan, and the board of course is 100 percent behind it.

"If we can help create jobs, not only in McKeesport but that affect the region, that's what we want to do," Pittman said.

. . .

Meanwhile, council in September approved leases through Dec. 31, 2015, with other tenants, including city engineer James Garvin, safety consultants Norm Koehler and Associates, attorney George F. Gobel, auditor Robert Tomasic, KLH Enterprises and Senate Engineering.

Rents range from $260 per month for Koehler to $1,250 for KLH, and were established after McKeesport Realtor Bob Baum appraised all of the offices in the building.

Council President Darryl Segina cast the only "no" vote on the leases. He objected to the $800 per month lease with Gobel, who sublets his office to two other attorneys, including McKeesport solicitor Elash.

. . .

"We have three individual attorneys in there," Segina said. "We should be getting three individual rents."

But Elash's office is reachable only by going through Gobel's office, Cherepko pointed out. "It would be like renting out a bedroom in a house that's already rented by someone else," he said.

Council also approved leases for McKeesport Development Corp. and McKeesport Neighborhood Initiative, but city officials said those agencies likely would not be able to sign the leases because their funding has run out.

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