PICA regains voting ability

Good news for PICA.

The Philadelphia Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, as it is formally called, will be able to vote on its own budget next week.

Last month, the authority - which functions as the city's fiscal watchdog - was unable to take that step since two of its five members had not yet been appointed. (Rules require PICA to have four voting members to take action.) Consequently, PICA missed its official deadline for submitting its budget to the state legislature, which created the authority.

With a board composed of political appointees, two -- Republican Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Senate Democratic Leader Bob Mellow -- had failed to name candidates to the two vacant board spots.

No word yet from Mellow. But earlier this week, Scarnati sent over a name: Dr. Joseph A. DiAngelo, dean of the Erivan K. Haub School of Business at St. Joseph's University. He replaces Varsovia Fernandez.

So that's four - enough for PICA to get back to business at its scheduled meeting Tuesday.

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