Jefferson Hills: Payment approved for borough seal

By ERIC SEIVERLING

eseiverling@yourmvi.com

Jefferson Hills will soon get a new official seal, but there’s controversy involved in the process.

At its virtual meeting May 11, council approved a motion to award payment of $6,000 to Pittsburgh-based A to Z Communications for the creation of a borough seal, paper and electronic images for use in borough websites and social media platforms as well as intellectual property rights for the borough.

The motion passed 5-2 with council members Keith Reynolds and Vickie Ielase voting no.

Borough manager John Stinner said the agreement with the company was signed last year by the borough’s previous council without going through a bidding process. Four of those council members — Christopher King, Tracey Khalil, Mary Reynolds and James Weber — are no longer in office.

But Reynolds said the creation of a borough seal would have been a good opportunity to get residents involved in the community.

“I think we should put it out to our residents to help generate a little bit of activity in the community to allow the residents to submit some logos,” Reynolds said. “I thought it would have been good for our community and our residents to be able to put a little input and be active in our government. 

“We didn’t review any other companies. I think that would guarantee against nepotism and hiring people without taking a look at other companies. It would be a good practice.”

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