Pittsburgh City Councilman Ricky Burgess has introduced legislation that would elevate the Pittsburgh Equal Opportunity Review Commission to a city department. The move comes after questions surfaced over the programs success rate.
While the commission does advocate for minority inclusion on all city-funded contracts it does not track the final results. Instead, it stops after the contracts are let, rather than watching to make sure the contracts are fulfilled. Burgess introduced a separate bill outlining new quarterly and yearly reporting guidelines.
Burges said it is unclear what it will cost the city to create the new department. He expects that be hammered out during this falls budget negotiations. The legislation introduced Tuesday also call for the city to spend as much as $250,000 to study racial and gender disparities.