Planning a slew of big-ticket improvements, the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority eased a longtime residency requirement this month in hopes of filling certain jobs.

PWSA has mandated for decades that workers on the payroll live within the city, a standard in line with most city departments.

But “when it comes to some of these professional positions, it is almost impossible for us to find individuals who currently live in the city and have the background,” said Robert Weimar, the PWSA interim executive director. “The ones we’ve been unable to attract, even though we would give them the option of moving into the city and give them the time to do that — they’re just not accepting the positions.”

With that in mind, the PWSA board agreed Nov. 17 to let the authority consider non-city residents for 17 management-level, non-union positions. Board member Deborah Gross cast the lone dissenting vote. A union that represents lower-level PWSA workers did not immediately comment amid the Thanksgiving holiday.

Board member Jim Turner said the change affords “flexibility for our management to move quickly and to hire the best people — and to avoid contracting out these positions.” PWSA aims to add at least 50 staff members in 2018 while it tackles lead line replacements and other critical system work, boosting its annual capital budget to some $75 million.

The number is forecast to top $300 million by 2020 as PWSA restores facilities after decades of neglect. Service rates are slated to increase nearly 50 percent over the next three years, largely to pay for those efforts.

“We are undertaking just an enormous amount of work,” Mr. Turner said. “It’s one thing to pass a budget. It’s another thing to put out a report. But we have to get the work done. It has be monitored. It has to be supervised.”

Still, Ms. Gross maintained that “we cannot keep lifting residency requirements.” The state Supreme Court ruled in May that Pittsburgh police officers no longer need to live within city limits, although they must live within 25 miles of the City-County Building, Downtown.

“I do not believe that the City of Pittsburgh is a place where people shouldn’t live,” said Ms. Gross, who is also a City Council member. “I think it is a place where people should live and that we have a reason to commit to each other, to live here and to rebuild the city, both above ground and below ground.”

For the 17 PWSA jobs that may be filled by non-city residents, applicants still must live in southwestern Pennsylvania in order to be considered. Any city residents who make it to the interview process should be given preference over similarly qualified candidates who live outside Pittsburgh, according to the board decision. Members said they want to revisit the matter — and their decision’s impact — in several months.

Among its benefits, Mr. Weimar said the loosened rule should help save money by limiting the authority’s reliance on consultants contracted through outside firms, which don’t have to meet residency standards. PWSA counts about 50 consultants and 260 direct employees in its ranks.

The authority pays a roughly 40 percent premium for the consultants compared to staff members on its direct payroll, Mr. Weimar said.

“It’s going to allow us more long-term consistency in the staffing, and it’s going to allow us to get the ramping-up of staff numbers that we need in order to get everything done,” he said about the policy change.

PWSA has long brought in contracted workers “to get around” the residency mandate, according to a state audit of the authority released Nov. 1. It recommended rescinding or amending the rule “to allow for a larger pool of qualified applicants.”

Mayor Bill Peduto, who appoints PWSA board members with council approval, said he would oppose lifting the residency requirement for all PWSA jobs. He said residency encourages stability, the tax base and the community fabric.

Still, he said he supported the board’s decision.

“Ideally, I would love for every one of our employees, even with our authorities, to live in the city,” Mr. Peduto said. “But what we have presently at PWSA is an immediate need to address decades-old problems that could be a crisis in a very short period of time. And doing so requires the best people in positions to do so right now.”

Adam Smeltz: 412-263-2625, asmeltz@post-gazette.com, @asmeltz.

First Published: November 24, 2017, 10:26 p.m.