Allegheny County exec Innamorato announces new board appointees

Newly elected Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato has named her first slate of board appointees, and they include criminal justice advocates, a state representative from the Allegheny Valley, and others.

Innamorato nominated six people on Friday to serve on the Allegheny County Housing Authority, Jail Oversight Board, and Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County.

The appointments need to be approved by Allegheny County Council and will come before council on Tuesday, Jan. 23.

State. Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Fox Chapel, was nominated for the Allegheny County Housing Authority, along with Mark Forester, a former chairman of the Housing Authority board, who was renominated. Steele was first elected in 2022 to the 33rd District, which stretches from Aspinwall to Tarentum and includes the municipalities in the Fox Chapel Area, Deer Lakes, Allegheny Valley and Highlands school districts.

The housing authority’s role is to increase viable housing for low-income residents.

Kyle Chintalapalli, Pittsburgh’s chief economic officer for the city’s budget office, was nominated for a seat on the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County. The redevelopment authority guides economic development on vacant and blighted properties.

Innamoroato said her nominations for redevelopment and housing boards were meant to increase intergovernmental cooperation and collaboration, with Steele representing the state legislature and Chintalapalli working for the city of Pittsburgh.

The Jail Oversight Board had seen some contention under the previous county executive Rich Fitzgerald. Criminal justice advocates had criticized Fitzgerald for his role in managing the jail, and Allegheny County Councilwoman at-large Bethany Hallam, D-Marshall-Shadeland, even sued Fitzgerald for failing to show up to Jail Oversight Board meetings himself.

Innamorato attended her first Jail Oversight Board meeting earlier this month.

She appointed Barbara Griffin, the director of the Pro Bono Center of the Allegheny County Bar Foundation, and Rob Perkins, a former public defender who is a founding member of the Allegheny Lawyers Initiative for Justice.

Additionally, she nominated Muhammad Ali Nasir, an activist also known as MAN-E, who works as Policy Civic Engagement coordinator at 1Hood Media. Nasir was previously incarcerated, and Innamorato said he will bring an important perspective to the oversight board.