South Fayette appoints interim township manager
S. Fayette appoints Diggs as interim township manager
{child_byline}By Jacob Calvin Meyer
Staff writer
jmeyer@thealmanac.net
{/child_byline}
With South Fayette Township manager Ryan Eggleston leaving for his new job in Morehead City, N.C., later this month, the commissioners approved the appointment of his interim replacement at their April 11 meeting.
The board unanimously appointed La Verne Diggs, who is currently the township’s part-time human resources director and special projects director, as interim township manager.
“I’m delighted that she’s willing to serve,” Eggleston said. “She’s a great choice by the board. She is a professional and is going to do a great job.”
Diggs will begin her new role April 27 at a rate of $55 per hour. She said after the meeting she is not interested in serving as Eggleston’s permanent replacement.
Diggs enters the interim position with a full slate of experience as a government executive. After growing up in South Fayette and attending Sturgeon School and South Fayette High School, she worked in municipal government in Norfolk, Va., and Scottsdale, Ariz., along with several towns in California.
“I’ve been in public service my whole career,” she said. “My breadth of experience will help me as I transition into the interim township manager role.”
In Norfolk, Diggs served as the assistant city manager, while in Scottsdale, she served as the executive director of human resources, which she retired from in 2010. Diggs, who earned her doctorate in organizational leadership from Pepperdine University, also spent time teaching in higher-education.
“Diggs has been an outstanding resource for South Fayette Township, and we are confident that she is well qualified to steady the ship during the transition,” board President Ray Pitetti said in a township press release. “We appreciate her professional assistance as the township conducts a search for the next manager.”
Diggs has since worked in part-time roles at South Fayette in emergency management, labor relations and employment.
“Public service is my life, and it’s nice to work at a place like South Fayette,” Diggs said.
When Eggleston announced his retirement in late February, the township hired a professional consulting firm, GovHR, to search for his replacement. Community Development Director Andrea Iglar said the process is expected to take several months and the firm is still preparing the advertisement for the position.
“Hopefully that process is moving well and sometime this summer the permanent replacement will be in,” Eggleston said.
At the end of Eggleston’s last meeting at South Fayette, he read a prepared statement thanking the board, the staff and the community.
“It’s been a true privilege to work for this great community for almost six years,” he said. “We’ve made a lot of progress, and it’s been a wonderful place to call home.”
Also during the meeting:
The board tabled the passage of a master plan for South Fayette’s parks and the hiring of a consulting firm, HRG from Cranberry. The Parks & Recreation Board chose HRG out of four bidders a few months ago, but the motion has been tabled the last two months.
Commissioner Gwen Rodi questioned why the township didn’t apply for any grants, saying that part of the $47,925 owed to HRG could have been covered by a state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources grant.
“That’s free money to the township and the taxpayers,” Rodi said. “It just seems like a lot of money to spend on something if we have the resources to offset the expense.”
Eggleston said time was the biggest reason the township decided against applying for the grant, as the township is hoping to have the master plan done this year rather than wait for next year for the grant money to apply.
“I think some of it would have been reimbursable if you would have applied,” Rodi said. “We could have used it as reimbursable expense to do this study.”
While Eggleston said there’s no rush, he said the money is in the budget.
“The proposal that was received is within what was budgeted as it relates to the parks master plan,” he said.
Meanwhile, the board tabled a quote from Woltz & Wind vehicle company to purchase eight new township vehicles. Eggleston said the average township car is 14 years old and has 123,000 miles on it. Each car will cost $28,840, totaling $230,720.
The board tabled the rental of a 64-by-24 trailer for the township to use for “more space,” Eggleston said, since the township is “several years away from a new facility.” The rental would be $2,427 a month, or $29,127 a year.
A public hearing is being held at 5 p.m. in the Chartiers Room at the Bridgeville Volunteer Fire Department (370 Commercial St.) about the Route 50/Chartiers Creek Bridge Widening & Intersection Improvement project. The public hearing is directly after a public officials’ meeting.