As Gov. Tom Corbett is officially takes office today, one interesting local question remains unanswered. Who will run the PICA board?
The Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority is a state-created agency with oversight of the city's budget. The five board members are appointed by the state governor and the Democratic and Republican leaders of the state House of Representatives and state Senate.
The current board chairman Jim Eisenhower -- appointed by former Gov. Rendell -- stepped down at PICA's monthly meeting today, saying Corbett should have his own appointee. The other board members' terms will expire at the end of the month and they may or may not be reappointed.
"Hopefully there will be new appointments or reappointments by the end of the month," said Eisenhower. "I think PICA performs a very important function."
Given PICA's close watch over the city budget, the makeup of the board is worth watching. We called Corbett's spokesman yesterday, who said Corbett has not made a decision on PICA.
In the meantime, the board today renewed Executive Director Uri Monson for another six months, so that someone would be running the show.
Monson, who has been with PICA since 1999, seems to have had a tense relationship with the board at times. A year ago, the board blocked Monson from giving interviews to the press, typically a part of the the PICA director's job. The move came not long after Monson won an award from Philadelphia Magazine for being the city's "best wonk."