In 2014, Mayor Michael Cherepko implemented the Mayor's Committee on Community Issues to keep his office and other city departments in touch with what McKeesport residents experience in their neighborhoods on a daily basis.
With the committee including representatives of the McKeesport City Council, McKeesport Police Department, McKeesport Fire Department, McKeesport Housing Authority, McKeesport Housing Corporation and the local NAACP Unit, the Mayor and his team visited one of the city's wards each month.
Talking with residents in their own neighborhoods provides a unique opportunity to address issues that residents may feel are too small to bring to a larger venue, such as a City Council meeting. Mayor Cherepko believes every resident should have an opportunity to be heard, and he has maintained an open-door policy since taking office in 2012.
"A priority of this administration has always been addressing neighborhood concerns, and having meetings out in the community was another way to reach that goal," he said. "Not only was this a chance for us to hear about some of the problems or issues that might be taking place in their neighborhoods, it was also a chance to share many of the positive things going on in our city -- from economic development, to police strategies, to community events."