Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato, at U.S. Rep. Summer Lee’s election night party on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel. Innamorato has made 39 appointments to county panels. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)
As the new Allegheny County administration makes appointments to powerful boards and commissions, it faces a tricky balancing act weighing institutional knowledge against the opportunity to give other residents a turn at the table.
by Christine Graziano, PublicSource
When Sara Innamorato became Allegheny County executive in January, she took on responsibility for roughly 50 county boards, some rich with people who have served 10 years or more.
Those panels make important decisions in areas from the environment to transit to housing to sanitation, and many are tracked through PublicSource’s ongoing Board Explorer transparency project.
County-related boards heavy on long-serving members include the Board of Health, the Air Pollution Control Advisory Committee and the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority [ALCOSAN]. In the civic and educational realm, the Allegheny Regional Asset District [RAD] and the Community College of Allegheny County [CCAC] have long-tenured members. And the lesser known Agricultural Land Preservation Board and the MBE Advisory Committee also have longstanding members.
Many of the volunteers were appointed early in Rich Fitzgerald’s 12-year tenure as executive, and others date back to the administrations of Dan Onorato and Jim Roddey, or even to the prior three-commissioner system of government.
BoardSource, an authority on board leadership focused largely on the nonprofit sector but with many governmental members, puts the average board tenure at seven years. Anne Gingerich, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Organizations [PANO], said there is no one-size-fits-all rule on board tenure, and what is right for one board may not be the right fit for another.
Innamorato, though, has laid out a governing approach, which her administration says applies to board membership decisions, called co-governance.
“Boards and commissions play a very important role,” wrote Abigail Gardner, the county communications director, in response to PublicSource’s questions about the administration’s philosophy toward appointments. “Co-governance isn’t just about bringing new voices to the table, it’s about empowering leaders with the opportunity to drive real change within their communities.”
Diamonte Walker stands outside the Pittsburgh Scholar House Office on the North Side on Dec. 7. Walker serves on Pittsburgh and Allegheny County boards. (Photo by Lilly Kubit/PublicSource)
Gardner said the administration’s Talent Committee, established as part of its transition team, has received information from well over 100 people eager to be considered for board slots.
By mid-April, the process of restocking county boards was well underway: The administration had submitted 39 appointments to County Council for its approval.
Gardner wrote that replacement of a current member “shouldn’t be interpreted as a negative reflection of anyone’s time serving on the board/commission.” She noted that sometimes individuals indicate their willingness to roll off due to personal or professional circumstances, adding that some turnover is related to the executive’s “desire to elevate new and diverse voices who align with her vision for the region.”
As the process continues, the administration will need to consider trade-offs between new blood and institutional knowledge, in an area in which there are no specific guidelines. Here’s how the process is playing out across several important boards.
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