Four referendum questions could be on the ballot for Greensburg voters this fall.
City council this week introduced a bill that would seek to amend Greensburg’s home rule charter which was written in 1988. Councilman Randy Finfrock proposed the amendments:
• eliminating the residency requirement for the city administrator and fiscal director. Currently, the employees in both positions are required to live in Greensburg, said administrator Kelsye Hantz.
The requirement could restrict the talent pool should a hire need to be made, Finfrock said.
“Just in case we have vacancies in these positions, we don’t want to tie our hands,” he said.
• eliminating a requirement for a specific number of fire departments. The charter calls for six companies, Finfrock said. He pointed to the decreasing number of volunteer firefighters and an ongoing examination of the fire service in other municipalities as a reason to make the change.
“We don’t know how this is going to pan out, so we don’t necessarily want to tie the administration’s hands to a hard number,” he said. “It could go down, it could go up, it could stay at six, we have no idea. But the number six is in the charter and it has to go.”
• adjusting the threshold for bid requirements. Currently, any cost over $6,000 has to go out to bid.
“When we wrote the charter in 1988, that was an outrageously high figure,” Finfrock said.
Now, it’s a low number. He suggested tying the amount to the third-class city code, which currently calls for bids over $25,000.
The matter will come before council again for a vote. Solicitor Zachary Kansler said if it is approved in June, there will be plenty of time to get the information to Westmoreland County Elections Bureau for inclusion on the November ballot, allowing voters to weigh in on the issues.
“It’ll be up to the residents to make their decision,” Finfrock said.