JOHNSTOWN —
Mayor Thomas Trigona, as a member of both Johnstown’s City Council and redevelopment authority board, is in a unique position in terms of being able to arrange a meeting between the two bodies.
And that is exactly what City Council asked him to do on Wednesday.
During the past few months, council has been attempting to get together with the redevelopment authority’s chairman, Msgr. Raymond Balta, to discuss several issues, including Johnstown Regional Sewage billing, employee contracts and a governmental investigation mentioned in a public report about Johnstown Redevelopment Authority finances.
Nobody from the authority has accepted the offer yet.
So, council asked Trigona, in his position as a board member, to help arrange a meeting.
“I’ll request it,” said Trigona.
Pete Vizza, council’s liaison to the authority, said he repeatedly has talked to Balta about a possible meeting.
“He said he’s working on it,” said Vizza. “He won’t be able to meet with us, but he said that he will have one of his people meet with us.”
Balta has expressed a willingness to get together. “He agreed to it in October. We’re going almost into February,” said Councilman Frank Janakovic.
Marie Mock, one of council’s harshest critics of the authority, added, “People want to know. We want to know. If there’s nothing to hide, then why not have a meeting?”
Balta could not immediately be reached for comment.
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