Allegheny County Council voted unanimously to repeal residency requirements for staff at the Allegheny County Jail at a meeting Tuesday. Employees who “[perform] their primary work function(s) at the Allegheny County Jail” will no longer be required to live within county limits.
Most people who accept a job with Allegheny County must become a resident within one year if they aren’t already. Some county positions were already exempt from the requirement, including health care workers at the jail and 911 telecommunications officers and shift commanders. Officials reported difficulties hiring and retaining employees for the posts when residency requirements were in place.
When the ordinance waiving the requirement was introduced in February, supporters said they hoped removing residency requirements would encourage more people to apply for corrections officer positions. The county jail has been dealing with what some staff say are “severe staffing shortages” at the facility, conditions they say have only worsened since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Jail staff, formerly incarcerated people and other community members have previously raised staffing concerns at meetings of the Jail Oversight Board, which monitors conditions at the jail. Critics said corrections officers and health care positions at the jail have been particularly difficult to fill.
Allegheny County Jail officials have maintained that the facility is “appropriately staffed.”
The issue of residency requirements is likely to be revisited in the near future. County Executive Rich Fitzgerald introduced an ordinance on Tuesday that would eliminate the requirement for other county staffers.
If the bill is passed by the full council, county employees including caseworkers, lifeguards and air pollution control engineers and coke oven technicians would be allowed to live outside of Allegheny County.
Fitzgerald’s bill was referred to council’s committee on government reform for review.
