A small business based out of Zelienople found itself in the crossfire between Pittsburgh's city controller and the city's mayoral office after recent snow storms hit the region.

In an audit, Pittsburgh's city controller blames A & H Equipment, a Zelienople-based technology company, and others for recent issues related to the city's snow-removal challenges. But a spokesman for the city, Timothy McNulty, said the city doesn't agree with the audit's findings.

“In the city's opinion, the controller's audit was incorrect,” McNulty said, noting the problem was found with another company. He also wondered why A & H was even named in the audit because “the problems were with a totally different vendor working on the project.

“After discovering issues with the system last summer, the city canceled a contract with a navigation vendor and has been testing and installing replacement software onto the snow-truck tablets,” McNulty said. “Furthermore, (Department of Public Works) drivers, supervisors and foremen had direct input into the continued revisions of optimized snow routes and continue to be engaged in further advancements of the technology.”

The report was released in June, and it cites two main issues related to A & H equipment, a company that was a subcontractor in the installation of salt spreaders between 2018 and 2019 in Pittsburgh that are used by the Department of Public Works. The report found that the first issue was related to improper installation of a certain salt spreader device called “electric hogs.”

The devices constantly malfunctioned, and the city's mechanics had to deal with the problem. The second issue the controller found is that the salt spreading system A & H installed would sometimes disconnect in “dead zones” around the city, leading to poorly salted areas.

For the first problem, the controller recommended A & H take over repairs and compensate the city financially. For the second problem, the controller recommended A & H be held responsible for fixing all aspects of its snow control system technology and that the city should receive a rebate for having its mechanics do the work.

The Department of Public Works responded to these and other recommendations made by the controller. Michael Gable, the director of public works, disagreed with the recommendation that A & H be held responsible for fixing the snow control systems technology and that the city should receive a rebate for having the mechanics work.

But Gable notes that the company is “honoring their warranty” by repairing the technology. So far, work on five out of 18 vehicles has been completed as of May 20, 2020. He said the remaining 13 are expected to be done soon.

Tripp Amick, A & H's president, said all but one of the vehicles have been repaired.

A & H was hired as a subcontractor by a company called Quentica. That company was tasked with cutting back on road salt use while making snow control more efficient, according to the audit. It, in turn, hired A & H to install new equipment on the city's snow-removal vehicles.

“We've been around for 60 years,” Amick said. “This is the first time we've gotten bad publicity like this.”