Based on a news article, the North Hills community of Ross will undergo an evaluation to examine whether its present form of government is optimal. Currently, Ross is a Township of the First Class and has nine commissioners elected by ward.
The article mentions that a special committee will examine whether home rule would be the best option or if they should reduce the number of commissioners from nine. Based on the First Class Township Code, the number of commissioners can range from 5 to 15; if the township is not divided into wards, the maximum number of commissioners is 5 elected at large or if it has fewer than 5 wards there is a mixture of district and at large representation.
If Ross was to go the route of home rule, it would join 19 other municipalities in Allegheny County, as well as the County itself, in operating under a home rule charter. The procedures for moving to home rule are outlined in the 1972 Home Rule law. The last municipality in the County to adopt home rule was Pine Township in 1992; most of the others did so in the decade of the 1970s following adoption of the law. Of the nine municipalities in the County with a population of 25k or more (from Pittsburgh at 305k to Plum at 27k) six have adopted home rule charters–only Ross, Shaler, and Plum have not.
