Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Council Sends 9 Review Board Names to Mayor

Pittsburgh Council is moving toward resolving the dispute with Mayor Luke Ravenstahl over nominees to the Citizen Police Review Board (CPRB).
The board investigates allegations by citizens of police misconduct. Currently there are 6 members on the 7 member board...but all of their terms have expired and they continue to serve.
Councilman Doug Shields says it's been problematic to appoint new members because the city code does not account for succession appointments, only for inaugural appointments or a process if somebody resigns or dies. Shields says he would have preferred having council hold off on sending the 9 names to the mayor until they approved his measure clarifying the language on succession appointments. He says in the end the new appointees to the board will serve varying time periods because they will be succeeding current members whose terms expired at different times.
From the nine names that council is forwarding, the mayor will select 4 and then name three others of his choosing. These 3 can be from his own list or also be among council's suggestions.
The mayor will then send the 7 names back to council for final approval.
The 9 suggestions by council include 4 current CPRB members: Richard Carrington, Mary Jo Guercio, Marsha Hinton and Deborah Walker; plus Brett Caloia, John Detwiler, Eugene Downing, Donna Kramer and Deborah Whitfield.

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