►
Description
On this episode of CityTalk, John interviews Philip Savino from the Department of Innovation & Performance and City Controller Michael Lamb.
A
A
A
B
A
B
B
Yeah
we
had
a
lot
of
windows
machines
out
there,
windows
7
machines,
a
little
bit
of
a
mix
between
the
thin
clients
and
some
older
10
machines.
But
this
is
the
city's
first
tech
refresh.
So
we're
kind
of
happy
to
have
gotten
away
or
along
the
way
with
it
and
we're
looking
forward
to
a
successful
completion.
A
B
B
A
B
Oh
yeah,
that's
an
interesting
story
so
like
when
I
first
came
to
pittsburgh.
It
was
to
train
in
the
martial
arts.
My
instructor
had
moved
to
pittsburgh
for
promotion,
and
you
know
I
liked
the
area
I
kind
of
fell
in
love
with
the
city
at
that
point
and
when
time
came
for
graduation,
you
know
he
said
what
are
you
going
to
do
and
I
said
I
don't
know
what
I'm
going
to
do.
B
Yeah
yeah
exactly
that
in
a
good
way
in
a
good
way,
yeah
yep.
He
pushed
me
into
it
and
I
hated
it,
but
then
I
learned
there
after
I
was
good
at
it
and
then
you
know
here
I
am:
do
you
still
dabble
in
the
martial
arts?
No,
I
retired!
A
while
ago
I
after
two
knee
surgeries
and
several
shoulder
surgeries.
I
I,
my
body,
couldn't
take
it
anymore.
A
B
B
I'm
glad
that
everybody's
starting
to
return
to
work
as
I
get
to
see
the
smiling
faces
of
my
staff,
which
is
great
and
associate
personalities
with
those
faces.
So
but
you
know
covid
was
an
interesting
point
to
to
be.
You
know,
starting
a
new
job
for
sure
I
was
prior
to
that.
You
know
rolling
out
work
from
home
devices
and
technology
for
the
parking
authority,
so
that
was
kind
of
an
ongoing
scramble,
and
then
you
know
accepting
a
position
with
the
city
yeah.
A
B
B
B
B
B
A
B
You
know
whether
that's
parking
or
if
it's
government
operations,
you
know
delivering
services,
helping
police.
You
know
catch
more
bad,
guys
or
ambulance
to
be
delivered
to
or
to
come
to
the
house
quicker.
However,
technology
can
facilitate
that
need
parking.
You
know
being
able
to
open
up
an
app
and
see
where
parking
available
availability
is
that
you
can
get
to
your
spot
quick
and
get
to
work
in
in
in
the
morning
quicker.
All
of
that
is
delivered
by
means
of
technology.
So
there's
a
fulfillment
there
and.
A
A
C
C
All
along
is
talking
to
each
other
and
now
we're
talking
to
them
and
so
we're
finding
ways
and
we've
done
things
like
energy
purchases
and
and
we
dealt
with
issues
like
ems,
providing
services
and
street
lighting
all
kinds
of
issues
that
have
come
up
out
of
that
conversation.
So
I
see
annexation
and
those
conversations
as
the
next
step
in
in
any
of
that,
and
you.
A
C
That's
right,
if
you
look
at
you
know
our
our
trade
organization,
so
to
speak,
is
the
government
finance
officers
association
and
that's
the
distinguishing
number.
You
know
if
you
are
above
300,
000
you're,
a
large
municipality
if
you're
below
it
you're
a
small
municipality,
and
I
think
that
means
something
not
just
just
in
nomenclature,
but
I
think
it
just
means
something.
With
respect
to
funding
that's
available,
there
are
different
pots
of
money
that
are
available
to
large
municipalities
that
aren't
available
to
a
small
municipality.
C
So
in
the
long
run,
having
our
popular
population
above
300
000
is
important
and
it's
it's
possible
and
even
maybe
likely
that
we're
going
to
dip
below
that
in
the
census
and
wilkinsburg
would
give
us
another
15,
000.
right,
another
15,
000
people,
and
you
know,
and
not
that
that's
the
only
reason
you
do
something
with
with
wilkinsburg
in
particular
we're
already.
You
know
we're
already
contracting
with
them
for
fire
service
and
that's
been
a
very
successful
operation.
We
have
saved
them
money
on
their
fire
on
their
fire
bureau,
while
reducing
response
times.
C
So
it's
been
a
very
positive
step.
We
collect
garbage
there
on
a
contractual
basis
and
so
and
their
children
in
sixth
grade
and
above
come
to
city
schools.
So
there's
a
lot
of
of
consolidation
that's
already
occurred.
Annexation
would
be
a
good
thing
for
the
city
for
the
population
side
of
this
argument.
I
think
it's
a
good
thing
for
wilkinsburg
from
the
financial
side,
but
that's
really
up
for
the
people
wilkinsburg
to
decide.
You
know
they.
They
really
need
to
decide
this,
and
I'm
hoping
our
council
lets
them
do
that
now.
C
C
Be
providing,
and
not
just
me-
I
mean
that's,
that's
that's
true.
Based
on
the
services,
the
studies
we've
done
of
the
services
we
already
provide,
but
even
with
this
they've
had
an
independent
financial
firm
come
in
and
look
at
that
and
they've
produced
a
couple
of
reports
that
I
agree
with
that.
They're
they're
right
in
line
they're
right
in
line.
A
C
Is
that
saving
our
bacon?
Absolutely
I
mean
you
know
you
figured
last
year
we
lost
50
million
dollars,
50
million,
that's
a
big
number
for
a
city
of
our
size
and
particularly
because
of
what
happened
with
parking.
You
know
people
aren't
driving
into
town
anymore,
or
are
they
going
to
special
events
and
with
special
events?
Of
course
you
lose
amusement
tax
as
well,
so
a
big
number.
Now,
interestingly,
it
really
didn't
affect
our
income
tax.
Last
year
you
know
people.
While
we
know
people
were
out
of
work.
C
We
also
know
that
people
who
were
working
were
working
more
hours
and
and
in
pittsburgh
at
least
you
didn't
see
a
lot
of
layoffs
from
some
of
our
biggest
employers.
You
know
pnc
didn't
land,
it
wasn't,
laying
anyone
off
upmc,
of
course,
the
healthcare
industry
weren't,
laying
people
off
they
were
actually
bringing
people
in.
So
we
ended
up
with
a
year
with
our
our
income.
Tax
collection
is
pretty
much
where
they
were
in
2019.
C
Yeah,
I
think
we
are,
I
mean,
I
think,
if
you
look
at
any
city
across
the
country
of
our
size,
that
has
84
million
dollars
in
their
savings
account.
That's
a
pretty
positive
thing,
even
though
we
had
we
started
the
year
with
33
million.
You
know,
so
we
lost
50,
but
we're
still
in
a
very
strong
position.
C
I
think
an
enviable
position,
and
so
you
know
when
now
with
the
federal
money,
that's
going
to
enable
us
to
save
that
money
not
have
to
to
put
that
money
out
to
beat
expenses
this
year
and
then
to
also
keep
us
from
having
to
lay
anyone
off
and
address
the
salary
increase
that
everyone
forego.
And
you
know
everyone
took
a
freeze
this
year
so.
C
Yeah,
really,
that's
the
only
reason,
I'm
sitting
here
talking
to
you
right
now.
Well,
I
mean
the
fact
is:
we
went
through
a
whole
process
in
this
city
over
the
last
15
years,
right-sizing
our
payroll,
and
it
is
the
right
size
right
now,
whether
you
look
at
police
fire
ems,
which
make
up
about
60
percent
of
our
payroll
or
the
rest
of
the
government.
Public
works,
and
we
are
you
know
we
were
in
a
position
where
we
were
right.
C
Yeah,
that's
right.
We're
doing
that
right
now,
we're
doing
two
days
two
days
a
week
in
and
it
kind
of
coincides
with
the
city,
because
our
process
is
at
the
end
right
so
we're
we
cut
the
checks
so
to
speak,
to
pay
all
the
bills.
So
once
we
get
those
invoices
in
from
the
various
departments,
then
we
come
in
on
on
the
following
day,
so
typically
a
tuesday
and
a
thursday,
and
then
we
process
those
invoices
and
get
those
checks
out.
C
So
it's
right
now
it's
working
pretty
well
a
lot
of
our
staff,
though
like
auditors,
for
instance,
really
don't
need
to
be
here.
They
we
have
found.
You
know
we
started
talking
about
remote
work,
long
before
covid
and
we
were
thinking
about
it
and
how
it
would
work,
but
we
never
actually
pulled
the
trigger,
and
when
this
happened
we
were
very
quick
to
to
go
to
a
remote
work
model
and-
and
I
think
for
our
auditors,
we
release
an
audit.
C
Yeah
yeah
rachel
heisler,
came
on
right
at
the
beginning
of
this
year
and
I
felt
so
bad
because
you
know
how
do
you
do
that?
How
do
you
come
in
to
basically
run
or
manage
an
office?
And
you
don't
know
any
of
the
employees
and
you
don't
get
to
see
any
of
them,
except
for
the
little
box
on
a
on
a
computer
screen.
So
it
was
difficult.
C
C
I
don't
know
how
much
weight
you
know
well
we're
at
home,
and
so
I
was
working
in
the
kitchen
which
is
the
worst
place
to
work,
because
you're
there's
food
all
around
all
the
time,
so
you're
eating
more
than
you
do,
and
the
interesting
thing
I
found
is
that
just
coming
into
work
every
day
you
don't
realize
how
much
you
walk
and
so
even
like.
I,
who
I
take
a
walk
every
day,
but
when
I
was
home
I
wasn't
getting
the
regular
steps
that
I
was
getting
in
by
coming
into
the
office.
C
With
so
much
you
know
what
I
I
actually
my
wife
and
I
we
really
like
to
support
the
local
restaurants
and
there's
a
restaurant
in
mount
washington.
It's
been
there
forever
and
I
never
went
there.
It's
called
it's
it's
the
sesame
garden
on
on
shiloh
street.
It's
a
chinese
restaurant
and
it's
really
good.
You
know
it's
really,
you
know
and
so
yeah.
C
So
that's
one
of
the
finds
that
we
made,
but
we
really,
I
really
do
try
to
even
in
the
hideako,
but
we
were
going
places
and
then
kind
of
promoting
it
on
on
facebook.
Everyone's
hey
go
to
this
place.
They
have
great
take
out.
They
do
it
right.
They
do
that.
You
know
and
trying
to
help
some
of
our
local
business
and
a
lot
of
them
are
friends
that
you've
known
for
years
and
trying
to
get
them
making
sure
that
they're
getting
the
business
they
they
can
get.
A
C
C
Is
a
virtue,
but
I
have
found
in
government
that
impatience
is
also
a
virtue.
You
know
you
can't
just
wait
and
let
things
happen
you
have
to
kind
of
make
them
happen
and
michael
coyne,
who
I
worked
for
my
coin.
A
former
city
council
member
and
then
became
the
allegheny
county
protonator
who
I
worked
for
for
years.
He
he
was
often
often
said
that
impatience
can
be
a
virtue,
because
we
can't
just
wait.
We
got
to
go.
We
got
to
move,
we
gotta
get
things
done.