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County Executive Blasts Controller Over Weights & Measures Stickers

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A little sticker testifying to proper weights and measurements by Allegheny County continues to stir the political waters.

After former County Controller Mark Patrick Flaherty posted stickers with his name on gas pumps and scales, the new controller Chelsa Wagner tried to do the same.

That's when County Council stepped in to return Weights & Measures to a non-elected official.

"She's not following the law on that," County Executive Rich Fitzgerald says of Wagner. "That was an ordinance that County Council passed to do that but apparently her office is still putting stickers up in defiance of what the ordinance that County Council passed."

In an interview with KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano, Fitzgerald says Wagner is ignoring the law and won't turn over the responsibility to the county's office of administrative services -- a charge Wagner denies.

"I think i+f you look at the actual provisions of the council legislation, it did not set forth a date," says Wagner.

Wagner says she is waiting for a transfer plan from the administration.

"We've had some correspondence, but we haven't had a full transfer just yet."

Fitzgerald says she's just delaying.

"It's disappointing that Chelsa Wagner wants to promote her name around this county," he said. "We're going to put stickers on that just talk about Bureau of Weights & Measures -- nobody's name, just a phone number that you can call."

This ongoing battle over Weights & Measures and who gets to put a sticker on a gas pump is just another sign of the deteriorating relationship between the county controller and the county executive.

"We stand here ready as I've communicated to him to cooperate and make sure that business is done to the benefit of the taxpayers of Allegheny County," says Wagner.

"We want to have a partner, but really what we've had so far has been an obstructionist," notes Fitzgerald.

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