Pittsburgh City Council on Wednesday approved the first of a slew of nominees Mayor Corey O’Connor is looking to seat on various boards and commissions and in top posts within City Hall.
Sharon Werner, who will be the city’s chief operating officer, and Sheldon Williams, the acting public safety director, earned unanimous approval to sit on the Equipment Leasing Authority’s board.
In an interview with council members Tuesday, the pair said the new administration is dedicated to investing in an aging vehicle fleet that is prone to breakdowns and costly maintenance.
“It’s top of mind for the mayor’s office,” Werner said.
The fleet has been a topic of much concern in recent years as officials have acknowledged ambulances breaking down en route to the hospital and snowplows out of service during snowstorms. Controller Rachael Heisler in a November report warned of “widespread service disruptions” in the coming years if officials don’t properly fund fleet improvements.
Werner said she was open to an array of possibilities to address the problem.
“We are taking up all ideas at the moment and looking through them,” she said after some council members raised the prospect of issuing a bond to pay for new vehicles.
Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, has proposed legislation that would require the city to set aside at least $20 million for new vehicles each year.
While officials debated the 2026 budget, Warwick led the charge on a property tax hike, in part to ensure there was money to pay for new vehicles.
Werner acknowledged it’s “so complicated” to figure out how to get an aging fleet up to par.
Officials need to balance various considerations: how much it will cost to buy a new vehicle vs. how much it will cost to keep repairing an old one, how long it might take for a replacement vehicle to arrive vs. how long an older vehicle might remain usable.
Williams, as a former police officer and paramedic, said he wants to hear from the workers who actually use the city’s firetrucks, ambulances or snowplows firsthand.
“I know what it’s like to be the person who’s going to use the equipment,” he said.
Council members urged the newest Equipment Leasing Authority board members to consider input from workers who may have insight on how well a specific piece of equipment would work.
For example, Councilman Bob Charland, D-South Side, pointed out that Department of Public Works crews have been vocal about how the extended cab trucks the city recently purchased for them are “completely unusable for tight streets.”
Williams said officials also need to figure out how best to prioritize the city’s dire need for vehicles. He told council members he would like to find ways to eliminate any unnecessary delays in getting new vehicles into service, as some specialized vehicles, like ambulances, can take more than a year to arrive once they’re ordered.
City Council on Wednesday also unanimously approved Bill Urbanic — who O’Connor tapped as city treasurer — to sit on the Board of Trustees of the Comprehensive Municipal Pension Trust Fund.
They waived the opportunity to interview him prior to the vote. Urbanic previously served as City Council’s budget director until 2022.