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An Ordinance to establish a uniform standard of Merit Hiring for all applicants for employment for the County of Allegheny.
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WHEREAS, the Allegheny County Council recognizes that in 1999, the citizens of Allegheny County voted for a new "home-rule" government which included a mandate that any employee hired by the government of Allegheny County is to be hired on the basis of "Merit";
WHEREAS, merit hiring mandated by the Charter was to be enacted through the provisions of an Administrative Code which would detail the requirements for a new merit personnel system;
WHEREAS, in June 2000, County Council adopted an Administrative Code, however, as to the Independently Elected Officials of Allegheny County, Chapter 5, Article 6 of the Code contained a proviso that exempted those officials from the merit hiring system of the government of Allegheny County with a note which read: “Note: Applicability of the Merit Personnel System to the Independently Elected Officials is reserved for future determination.”;
WHEREAS, in 2002, a committee of the Council of Allegheny County was formed to debate that proviso, and to make the "future determination" for the applicability of the Merit Personnel System to the Independently Elected Officials, and from that committee, a Merit Hiring Policy for the Independently Elected Officials was voted upon, and a party line vote resulted, which in turn lead to a veto of the bill by the Chief Executive. A vote to override the bill failed, accordingly, no bill, resolution or ordinance has been passed by the Council of Allegheny County to address merit hiring by the Independently Elected Officials of Allegheny County;
WHEREAS, in January 2004, Chief Executive Dan Onorato took the helm as Allegheny County Chief Executive with the promise to continue the reform of the government of Allegheny County, to fulfill the mandate of change, and to complete the task of applying merit selection for the hiring of all employees by the government of Allegheny County;
WHEREAS, Allegheny County Council likewise recognizes that the Home Rule government has been in existence for more than four (4) years, and the applicability of merit principles has not yet been applied to the hiring of all employees for the County of Allegheny, and with the change in administrations, and for the continued fulfillment of the promise of Home Rule Charter, the time has come to apply the Merit Personnel System to all hiring of employees in the government of Allegheny County.
THEREFORE, THE COUNCIL OF ALLEGHENY COUNTY ESTABLISHES THE FOLLOWING ORDINANCE:
Section 1.
Chapter 5, Article 6 of the Allegheny County Administrative Code is hereby amended to delete the following provisions:
“Note: Applicability of the Merit Personnel System to the Independently Elected Officials is reserved for future determination.”
Section 2 - Severability
If any provision of this Ordinance shall be determined to be unlawful, invalid, void or unenforceable, then that provision shall be considered severable from the remaining provisions of this Ordinance which shall be in full force and effect.
Section 3 - Conflicting Provisions
Any Resolution or Ordinance or part thereof conflicting with the provisions of this Ordinance is hereby repealed so far as the same affects this Ordinance.