Submitted by:
Michael Belmonte
Councilman, Forest Hills Borough
412-351-7330
www.foresthillspa.org
The Woodland Hills Intercouncil is comprised of council representatives of the twelve municipalities within the Woodland Hills School District. The group was formed in January of 2007 when we asked ourselves three questions. Number one: what is your biggest issue as it pertains just to your municipality? Number two: what is your greatest concern as it relates to neighboring communities? Number three: what is your largest issue relative to the Woodland Hills School District?
Since our inception, the goal of our monthly meetings (with the exception of July and December, which we take off) is to work collectively in an effort to better all of our communities and our school district. Some topics covered thus far, involving relevant speakers, included waste collection, insurance plans, multi-municipal planning, real estate, and meeting with school administrators and directors.
As elected officials, we understand that this process takes more time than just looking at what goes on within our own individual communities. We have also come to the realization that working together is the way of the future. The biggest concern for all the communities involved were individual budgets. Specifics included grant monies disappearing, employee costs continuously increasing, and the overall cost of public safety.
As far as issues relating to neighboring municipalities; what can be done to save tax dollars by working together was the salient point. Sub-topics included pensions, a stagnant real estate market, struggling fire departments, garbage fee increases, police regionalization, code enforcement, and public works.
The greatest concerns people had for the school district were discipline and improving academics. Action items for the near future include working more closely with the Woodland Hills School District. In October of 2007, the WH Intercouncil hosted a meeting with the WH school administrators and six of the nine directors. There was also a dinner hosted by the Intercouncil last month to meet the new WH Superintendent. On August 11, the district hosted a realtors' luncheon. This was an opportunity for Dr. Calinger and other administrators to meet some of the local realtors. The goal was for the realtors to build confidence in the school district's future. For the long term, the plan is for more close communication between the school district and member municipalities.
Other action items include multi-municipal planning, exploring health insurance plan options, and always trying to reduce costs by working together. The latter opens the door to other ideas requiring short-term action, and also sets the foundation for long-term problem solving.
As a group, the Woodland Hills Intercouncil realized that working collectively is the answer to the viability of our future. We can not continue to go in twelve different directions. The more we focus on this, the better off we will be.
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