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An ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, directing that a referendum question regarding the amendment of Article III, §7(c) of the Home Rule Charter of Allegheny County, which prohibits County funding for personal staff of County Council members, be placed on the November 4, 2025 General Election ballot; and further amending Article III, §7(c), contingent upon the passage of the referendum question.
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Whereas, Article III, §7(c) of the Home Rule Charter of Allegheny County currently establishes that “County Council Members shall not be entitled to receive any County funding for personal staff, local district offices or fringe benefits…”; and
Whereas, existing staff within the Office of County Council works in common for and is jointly supervised by all 15 Council members, and handles all legislative, recordkeeping, budgetary, office management, and regular and committee meeting staff functions, and also acts as liaisons between the Office of County Council and the administrative and judicial branches of the County government, as well as the offices of the four independently elected County officials; and
Whereas, thirteen of the County Council members represent districts containing approximately 95,000 individuals each, while the two at-large members each represent the County’s entire population of over 1.2 million; and
Whereas, the sheer size of Council districts renders it a near logistical impossibility for a single Council member to remain abreast of all community events and activities within their districts, and the duties of Council’s existing staff fully occupy their time and drastically limit their ability to perform functions outside of the Office of County Council on the Council members’ behalf; and
Whereas, it is the judgment of Council that allowing each Council member to hire a single personal adjunct staff member to perform functions outside of the Office of County Council on the member’s behalf will...
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