Onorato Assembles Committee to Replace County Jail Warden

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato has appointed 21 judges, attorneys, county and law enforcement officials and community leaders to a committee that will seek a replacement for county Jail Warden Ramon Rustin, who has taken another job in New Mexico.

Chairing the search committee will be Common Pleas President Judge Donna Jo McDaniel, who also heads the Jail Oversight Board, Mr. Onorato said today in a statement. Its work will be funded with a $30,000 grant from the county's Human Services Integration Fund set up through the Pittsburgh Foundation. Its schedule and timetable have not been set.
 
In addition to Judge McDaniel, the committee members include: Common Pleas Judges Jeffrey A. Manning and Beth A. Lazzara; Magisterial District Judge Kevin E. Cooper of Homewood; Chief Deputy District Attorney Chris Connors; Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper; Fox Chapel Police Chief David Laux, who also is president of the county Chiefs of Police Association: County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt; and Sheriff William P. Mullen.

Other members include: Defense attorney Patrick J. Thomassey; the Rev. William Curtis of Mt. Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburgh's Larimer neighborhood; the Rev. James Earl Garmon Sr. of Trinity Baptist Church in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood; Community College of Allegheny County President Alex Johnson; Gayle Moss, president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the NAACP; Bill Strickland, president and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corp.; and Heinz Endowments President Robert F. Vagt.

County representatives on the committee include: Department of Human Services Director Marc Cherna and Deputy Director Erin Dalton; Health Department Chairman Bruce Dixon; Chuck Mandarino, president of the county Prison Employees union; and William "Jack" Simmons, director of Shuman Juvenile Detention Center in Pittsburgh's Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood.