New Allegheny Township manager to start in July

Allegheny Township is getting a full-time manager for the first time in nearly a year.

Supervisors voted this month to appoint Daniel Miller to the post at a salary of $102,000, with a starting date of July 8.

Miller resigned last week as North Huntingdon’s parks and recreation director.

His move to Allegheny Township translates to a 25% raise.

He also has done a stint as head of parks and recreation in his home municipality of Penn Hills.

Miller declined to comment on his appointment. Jamie Morabito, chairman of Allegheny Township’s board of supervisors, also declined, citing Miller’s wishes.

Outgoing interim Manager Jason Dailey said he expects a smooth transition.

Dailey will work with Miller and other officials to see through outstanding roadway drainage and reconstruction projects as well as a grant submission for Tredway Trail improvements. He expects to begin tapering off assistance in late July.

“I made sure that the township knows I’m only a phone call away,” Dailey said. “That is usually the role of the interim — to help the next full-time manager transition in.”

Dailey, who runs Dailey Operation Consulting LLC, spends only 60 to 70 hours a month on Allegheny Township duties. Getting 40 hours a week from its manager will be a boon for the township, he said.

His next gig is in McCandless, where he recently was hired as interim manager. It will be the seventh municipality in Western Pennsylvania he has worked for and the fourth where he has taken a temporary manager role.

Allegheny Township hired Dailey in August after Gregory Primm resigned as manager, part of an employee exodus where the township lost more than half of its administrative staff.

The first-time manager will have to weigh in on whether to bring several services back in-house. Since last summer, the township has outsourced payroll, bookkeeping and code enforcement to contractors.

Miller also will have to contend with a divided board of supervisors.

In a 2-to-1 vote, supervisors opened an investigation last week into how $10,000 left the township’s bank account without a public vote, reflecting an increasingly strained relationship between Supervisor Mike Korns and his fellow supervisors, Morabito and Jeff Pollick.

There also are the routine duties of managing a township — processing permits, fielding complaints and preparing meeting packets.

Dailey has confidence his successor is up to the task.

“I anticipate that he’ll do well in the field, and it’ll just be learning the culture and nuances of a new job,” Dailey said.