PBAA Executive Board Decides Not to Appeal Lease Termination

Plum Borough Athletic Association most likely will be dissolving.

PBAA members received a note from the new executive board on Saturday stating the association would not fight its lease termination. The vote was taken by the board at a membership meeting on Thursday.

"This decision was not made easily, and to be honest, tears were shed at the table when the final vote was taken," the letter, which was sent to the Plum-Oakmont Patch, states.

Plum District Magistrate Linda Zucco ruled the PBAA to be in violation of its lease agreement with the borough after a landlord-tenant hearing on Jan. 17. The PBAA leased the ballfields along Ross Hollow Road for $1 a year to provide organized youth baseball/softball opportunities for children.

At the time, Plum Councilman Mike Doyle said he was happy with the decision and that he hoped the organization wouldn't appeal the decision because the process would affect the upcoming ball season.

The PBAA technically has until Feb. 16 to appeal the decision, but the executive board states in its letter to members that the situation would not get better over time.

"The question we had to ask ourselves was, 'What do we win?," the letter states. "We would have an extremely hostile council sitting directly across the street from our fields, and poor public perception that has been fostered by our local media spreading misleading and less than truthful information."

The series of events began in September when Plum Borough that they no longer would have rights to the ballfields, citing several permit/lease violations.

A detective with the Allegheny County District Attorney's office also has charged former PBAA president Richard Claypoole—he resigned last month along with the —with theft by deception; and misapplication of entrusted property and property of government or financial institutions. Claypoole is accused of payments to himself and his business, Richmar with PBAA funds between 2008 and 2011.

In the midst of the mess, borough residents—some members of the PBAA—formed the new PBSA. The current PBAA executive board also was appointed, leaving the borough with two organizations.

The letter from the PBAA states the new board never was given a chance to right the wrongs created by the former board.

Borough officials had been encouraging the PBAA to work with the PBSA because the PBAA's reputation already has been "tainted."

According to the Plum Advance Leader, Councilman Keith Nowalk, personnel committee chairman, said he expects to present a proposal at the Feb. 6 council work session to hire a temporary part-time parks and recreation director who would assist in starting the spring baseball and softball season. 

However, there has been no official word from Plum Council about which organization will be offered a lease for the ballfields.

Doyle has said in the past that community youth sports should be run by volunteers and borough goverment should stay out of it.

According to the letter from the PBAA, the board expects property distribution to another nonprofit will be very time consuming—eight months to a year— and costly because it has to follow guidelines set by the Attorney General's office, which oversees nonprofit organizations.

"The PBAA is obligated to remove PBAA property from the fields, securely store and inventory the assets and exercise due diligence in obtaining documentation of fair market value," the letter states. "Any assets left after paying expenses must be solicited to another nonprofit (that) desires to receive the donations.  Then, both the PBAA and the recipient organization have to produce paperwork for filing to the Attorney General and (the Orphans Court).  The recipient organization must draft a letter to the Attorney General's office regarding the intended use for the donation."

Keep checking Plum-Oakmont Patch for more information about this matter.