The County’s Government Review Commission delivered its final report last week on its recommendations for improving Allegheny County Government. The next time a Commission will be appointed will be in a decade.
Proposed changes (read the final report here) include some charter referenda, some administrative code changes, different pay levels for Council and the Executive, elimination of the resign to run provision for Council (tried before, and exists for Philadelphia City Council and voters rejected it the last time they were asked on the ballot). The biggest proposal is likely contained in item C-8, which would nudge toward a merger/consolidation of the County Sheriff’s office and the County Police Department, but even that recommendation just calls for a task force to study the issue.
Based on the most recent CAFR, the Sheriff’s office has 200.5 FTE (full time equivalent employees) and the County police department has 262. The 2014 sunset review, which does not cover row offices (such as the Sheriff’s office) but did evaluate the County police department and its role in public safety. In 2007 the County did propose a ballot referendum making the Sheriff an appointed position and merging the County police under that position, but because state law mandates a five year waiting period between referenda to change government structure and the row office ballot question took place two years earlier, the question never appeared on the ballot and has not since.
So the Commission recommends a task force to determine if there should be a merger and whether the head of that merged department would be appointed or elected.
