Hurting for qualified job candidates, PWSA eases residency requirement
The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority board has lifted a long-standing residency requirement for certain management positions in an attempt to attract a wider pool of job candidates, but city officials have no desire to follow suit.
Mayor Bill Peduto Wednesday said he supports PWSA's effort to attract talented workers, but he believes city employees should live within city limits.
“I would say this is a unique situation that warrants a unique response, but not one that would then apply to any other authority or any other department in the city,” Peduto said.
PWSA is under orders from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to address chronic problems, including aging infrastructure and high lead levels in water.
Authority directors last week lifted the residency requirement for 17 management positions at the request of interim Executive Director Robert Weimar, who said PWSA was having trouble attracting skilled candidates.
PWSA has openings for such key positions as director of water production, director of engineering, deputy director of field services and deputy director of finance.
The board specified that applicants for the management jobs must live in Western Pennsylvania and that city residents would be given first priority. They also plan to consider reinstating the requirement for all employees after several months.
Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Deb Gross, who serves on the board, voted against the resolution.
“I do understand that it's really critical to fill these positions to rebuild critical infrastructure and provide clean drinking water for our residents, but I would prefer that we get city residents in these positions,” she said.
Pittsburgh's century-old residency requirement until this year applied to all employees. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court in May upheld an arbitration panel's 2014 decision permitting police officers to live outside the city, but still within 25 air miles of the City-County Building, Downtown.
Bob Bauder is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-765-2312, bbauder@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobbauder.
