An Ordinance of the County of Allegheny, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, amending the Administrative Code of Allegheny County, Article 203, entitled “County Authorities,” §5-203.02, entitled “Appointments to County authorities,” in order to limit the appointment of County employees and County Council Members to the governing boards of authorities.
WHEREAS, §5-203.01 of the Administrative Code of Allegheny County establishes a list of “independent authorities singularly or jointly created by Allegheny County for the performance of important governmental functions,” including but not limited to the Sports and Exhibition Authority of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority, and the Allegheny County Airport Authority;
WHEREAS, §5-203.02 of the Administrative Code establishes the process by which individuals are to be appointed to seats on the governing boards of the various authorities delineated in §5-203.01; and
WHEREAS, under the existing Administrative Code provisions, the Chief Executive is vested with the power and duty to make appointments to the governing boards “of all authorities created singularly or jointly by the County”; and
WHEREAS, the statutes governing the creation of many of the municipal authorities currently existing within Allegheny County, most notably the Municipality Authorities Act and Second Class County Port Authority Law govern the operations of the authorities created pursuant to their respective provisions; and
WHEREAS, it is well established under Pennsylvania law that agencies created under the terms of the Municipality Authorities Act are agencies of the Commonwealth, rather than the municipality that created the authority in question, see, e.g., Norwegian Twp. v. Schuylkill County Board of Assessment Appeals, 74 A.3d 1124, 1131 (Pa.Cmwlth. 2013); and
WHEREAS, the Second Class County Port Authority Law clearly and unambiguously states on its face that the Port Authority of Allegheny County i...
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