An Allegheny County Council committee on Tuesday narrowed down six candidates to three finalists for an advisory board overseeing a local juvenile detention center.
Those three finalists are:
• Lee Davis, originally nominated by Councilwoman Michelle Naccarati-Chapkis. Mr. Davis has worked in violence prevention, including as a program director of Greater Valley Community Services, a social services organization in Braddock.
• Terri Collin Dilmore, nominated by Councilman Dan Grzybek. Ms. Dilmore is a psychologist and professor at Howard University, whose research focuses on juveniles and how generational trauma impacts them.
• Rabbi Moishe Mayir Vogel, nominated by Councilwoman Suzanne Filiaggi. Rabbi Vogel is founder and executive director of Aleph Institute’s North East Region in Pittsburgh. Aleph focuses on prison reform, connecting those in need with housing, social services, healthy food, health care and jobs.
The council’s appointment review committee, which consists of all 15 members, was originally scheduled to consider eight applicants, but Maria Guido, a licensed clinical social worker, announced earlier this week that she was withdrawing from consideration. Another candidate, Robert Marc Davis, a psychiatrist in New Kensington, was also on the agenda, but did not attend and was not considered.
Of the 15 committee members, 11 attended Tuesday’s committee meeting — Councilmen Jack Betkowski, John Palmiere, Robert Palmosina and DeWitt Walton were absent.
Mr. Davis, Ms. Dilmore, and Rabbi Vogel all now await a final vote to be on the board, known as the Juvenile Detention Board of Advisors. If all get a majority of County Council votes, then County Executive Sara Innamorato will pick one of those people to serve on the board.
Council members in attendance in-person and by phone each picked three candidates out of those that were interviewed Tuesday. Mr. Davis received 10 votes, Rabbi Vogel got nine and Ms. Dilmore got six. The committee then unanimously voted to send those three names to the full council for consideration.
Mr. Davis highlighted his experiences in youth violence intervention, and said the most important thing the juvenile detention center should have is adequate, culturally appropriate mental health services for children in the facility. Rabbi Vogel agreed, adding that the center’s success will be determined by the quality of all services provided.
Ms. Dilmore said the lack of a juvenile detention center for a four-year period was extremely harmful to area youth. She added she has major concerns about a private facility versus one that is county-run because there is less oversight of the services provided.
Adelphoi, a Latrobe-based nonprofit that has been contracted to run the facility, is currently working with county officials to renovate the space to add capacity after it reopened last July with a dozen beds. The plan is to expand to 60 beds, but work won’t be done for several months, officials have said.
Outside of the three finalists, here were the other people who applied to serve on the volunteer board, who were interviewed Tuesday:
• Kimberly Dunlevy, nominated by Councilman Bob Macey. Ms. Dunlevy is a paralegal and serves on the county’s ethics board.
• Whitehall police Chief Jason Gagorik, by Council President Patrick Catena. Chief Gogorik joined Whitehall’s police force in 2002 and became chief in 2021.
• Tanisha Long, by Councilwoman Bethany Hallam. Ms. Long is Allegheny County community organizer for the Abolitionist Law Center, a nonprofit focused on criminal justice reform. She also founded RE Visions, a nonprofit focused on improving educational opportunities for students of color.
Ms. Innamorato, as part of a settlement agreement with council last year, agreed that she would select four members to the board, subject to council approval.
She and Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor also have seats on the board, although they can send someone in their place, per state and county law. Allegheny County President Judge Susan Evashavik DiLucente gets three picks to the board, which don’t require council or executive approval.
Judge DiLucente picked:
• Jennifer S. McCrady, a county judge. She serves in the family division and was first elected in November 2015.
• Edward Mulvey, who serves as a professor of psychiatry emeritus and former director of the law and psychiatry program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
• Cheyenne Tyler, executive director of Café Momentum, a nonprofit and restaurant training program with a location in Pittsburgh.
Clarification, posted 10:30 a.m. March 19, 2025: This story was updated to note that County Council could vote to send all three finalists over to the county executive for consideration for the board.
First Published: March 19, 2025, 12:20 a.m.
Updated: March 19, 2025, 3:37 p.m.
