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An ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending and supplementing the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, Article 311, entitled “Official Actions of County Council,” through the creation of a new §5-311.10, entitled “Appointments,” in order to establish term limits for individuals whose nominations for appointment to County entities are approved by Council.
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Whereas, County Council from time to time approves nominations for appointment to various boards, authorities, and commissions within Allegheny County made by its own members or the Chief Executive; and
Whereas, two of the foundational values justifying the change to home rule, as described in the preamble to the County's Home Rule Charter in relation to the Council members themselves are diversity and inclusiveness: "[a] home rule government with a legislative County Council with Members elected by district and at large will represent the diversity of our County's citizens and provide better access to County government;" and
Whereas, although Council is cognizant that experience among appointees is valuable in the context of authority, board and commission operations, Council is also mindful that repeated appointment of the same individual(s) to the same positions also often results in a lack of new ideas, and also functions to limit participation in those entities to an extremely small sample of the County’s 1.2 million residents; and
Whereas, it is accordingly the judgment of Council that allowing the same individuals to be appointed to the same positions over extended periods of time is both undesirable and contrary to the desire of the voters of the County as expressed through their enactment of the County's Charter, particularly insofar as such stagnation greatly limits or eliminates diversity, participation, efficiency, vision and creativity in functions relevant to County government; and
Whereas, it is accordingly the desire of Council to appl...
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