Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Oversight Board Membership Raises Questions
What do a former basketball player, a high-ranking union official, and a nun have in common? (And no, this is not a set-up for a joke). They are the latest appointees to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority—the Oversight Board—which is one of two agencies in charge of righting the City’s finances.
While they may have some qualifications, we are a bit surprised by the extent to which the makeup of the board has changed. The enabling legislation mentions two formal qualifications for members of the ICA: first, that they have “substantial experience in finance or management” and second, that they be “residents of [Pittsburgh] or have their primary places of business or employment in [Pittsburgh]”.
The first incarnation of the Oversight Board consisted of the former County Executive, two members of the financial community, a business executive, and the former president of Duquesne University. This group likely exceeded the statutory membership requirements through their knowledge and backgrounds and had a lot of respect in the community. As those folks have resigned, or in one case, were removed, new members have come on to form the newly-reorganized board.
To be sure, the defining moment for that ICA board was threatening to sue over the firefighters’ contract, noting that it would harm the City. In fact, the high cost of the Fire Bureau was mentioned as a “big problem” at the first meeting of the new board. The lawsuit was the right thing to do, but a compromise was forged and the suit dropped. The ICA’s effectiveness was curtailed, and the watchdog became a lapdog.
Last summer there was talk that the whole board was going to be scrapped, but the ICA lives on, albeit with a reduced budget and appointees that don’t strike us as people who are going to push for the hard solutions that the City still needs. This is particularly true of the union appointee who is likely to fight hard against any workplace changes when the bulk of the City’s problems arise from pensions, pay, and workers’ compensation.
Much like the recent purge of high-ranking City administration officials in favor of the Mayor’s political allies, the ICA seems like it will drift aimlessly and unproductively until its time to disband arrives in 2011.
While they may have some qualifications, we are a bit surprised by the extent to which the makeup of the board has changed. The enabling legislation mentions two formal qualifications for members of the ICA: first, that they have “substantial experience in finance or management” and second, that they be “residents of [Pittsburgh] or have their primary places of business or employment in [Pittsburgh]”.
The first incarnation of the Oversight Board consisted of the former County Executive, two members of the financial community, a business executive, and the former president of Duquesne University. This group likely exceeded the statutory membership requirements through their knowledge and backgrounds and had a lot of respect in the community. As those folks have resigned, or in one case, were removed, new members have come on to form the newly-reorganized board.
To be sure, the defining moment for that ICA board was threatening to sue over the firefighters’ contract, noting that it would harm the City. In fact, the high cost of the Fire Bureau was mentioned as a “big problem” at the first meeting of the new board. The lawsuit was the right thing to do, but a compromise was forged and the suit dropped. The ICA’s effectiveness was curtailed, and the watchdog became a lapdog.
Last summer there was talk that the whole board was going to be scrapped, but the ICA lives on, albeit with a reduced budget and appointees that don’t strike us as people who are going to push for the hard solutions that the City still needs. This is particularly true of the union appointee who is likely to fight hard against any workplace changes when the bulk of the City’s problems arise from pensions, pay, and workers’ compensation.
Much like the recent purge of high-ranking City administration officials in favor of the Mayor’s political allies, the ICA seems like it will drift aimlessly and unproductively until its time to disband arrives in 2011.
