Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved Mayor Corey O’Connor’s picks to head the city’s departments of Public Works and Mobility & Infrastructure.
Both are longtime city workers.
Jeff Skalican will take the helm as the director of the Department of Mobility and Infrastructure.
During a recent interview with City Council, Skalican said he helped launch the department when it was first created about nine years ago. The department is responsible for over 1,000 miles of streets, 144 bridges, 850,000 traffic signals and the city’s steps, crosswalks and retaining walls.
Skalican told council members he was eager to lead the department he helped to build.
“How many people really get the opportunity to build a department for a city they love?” Skalican said.
The city budget is tight this year, with officials reopening the spending plan to make a series of amendments. Those changes could include scrapping vacant job positions and raiding the city’s rainy day fund.
Skalican acknowledged those struggles but said he also hopes to add some new job positions to the department in the coming years. He told council members he wants people dedicated to painting fences and railings. He also hopes to double the five-person bridge maintenance division that was created in the wake of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse.
Leading the city’s Department of Public Works is John McClory, a 38-year veteran of the department.
“I always enjoyed serving the city, working for the public,” McClory told council members ahead of their unanimous vote to approve his nomination.
McClory will head a department responsible for collecting trash, plowing snow, tackling blight and maintaining streets, parks, and city facilities.
He told council members he wanted to ensure the city is clean and ramp up litter collection efforts.
The pair mark the latest new appointments to take over key positions in the O’Connor administration, which took office in January. Already, City Council has given the nod to a new director of the Department of Parks & Recreation, solicitor, planning director, police chief and public safety director.