PITTSBURGH — Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner announced Tuesday that she will subpoena the county police department and county administration.
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Wagner said the subpoena will require County Manager Bill McKain, Chief of Staff Jen Liptak and Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt to report to her office on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m.
According to Wagner, this comes as a result of repeated resistance to an audit of the department’s operations.
If McKain, Liptak and Moffatt don’t appear Feb. 23 to answer questions, Wagner is threatening to have them fined or even arrested.
“This is something that is not a measure that we take lightly, and we think it is unfortunate,” said Wagner.
The administration claims Wagner doesn’t have the authority to audit the police department, but Wagner says that with 220 officers and a budget of nearly $30 million, it’s her job to follow the money.
“It's not just the role of this office to see what is spent and where it's spent, but to really look at how these resources are being allocated,” said Wagner.
Liptak released a statement calling Wagner’s action’s Tuesday, “another example of political grandstanding by a county controller whose focus is more on getting media attention than understanding and doing the job that she was elected to do.”
Wagner denied Liptak’s claim.
“We believe very firmly that how those taxpayer dollars are spent is not confidential information,” she said.