City of Pittsburgh’s decision to hire 2nd Stop the Violence coordinator draws criticism

PITTSBURGH — A controversy is brewing over Pittsburgh’s Stop the Violence program.

11 Investigates discovered that the city is now hiring a second Stop the Violence coordinator at the same salary.

In a tight budget year, some are questioning whether this is necessary.

While some critics are questioning the hiring of a second coordinator, the public safety director defended the move, arguing that this new coordinator will have different responsibilities.

Ian Reynolds is the current Stop the Violence coordinator, but 11 Investigates spotted a job advertisement for a new Stop the Violence coordinator.

We questioned city officials, and they told us Reynolds isn’t leaving. They’re just adding another coordinator at the same salary, $74,000 a year, to help with the increasing workload and a new program on the South Side.

“With the additional workload and the new violence prevention learning line that we’ve been piloting in the hilltop as we roll that out, it made it very clear that we needed a second person that could take on some different aspects of violence prevention,” said Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt.

But some critics contend it’s a duplication of services, and they say it’s a waste of tax dollars, especially during a tight budget.

The public safety director defended the position.

"This is a little more case management, making sure the resources, people are connected to those resources, and then following up," Schmidt said.

“So, it’s not a duplication here?" asked Chief Investigator Rick Earle.

“Not a duplication at all," Schmidt said. “It’s actually more about making sure the work we’re doing is effective.”

Pittsburgh City Councilperson Bobby Wilson said of the issue: “That’s news to me that there’ll be two coordinators in the same level.”

Wilson says he was unaware of the second coordinator until we told him.

He says he’s not opposed to it, as long as there’s a need. However, he says the Stop the Violence fund, which is paid for by $10 million diverted from the police budget every year, also funds similar programs in the Office of Community Health and Safety (OCHS) with 47 employees. Stop the Violence has 14 employees.

“There’s a lot of money going into that fund," Wilson said, “and you know we’re spending money on OCHS through that for that money, and so you know we just got to make sure that it continues to meet the mission of what we’re trying to solve here in the City of Pittsburgh.”

The administration did not need council approval to create this position, as they just moved funding around in the current budget.

The two positions are included in the proposed budget for next year that the mayor just released, and the coordinators will each get a $2,000 raise.

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