Pittsburgh City Council president defends proposals designed to give council more power
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Pittsburgh City Council President Theresa Kail-Smith defended recently introduced legislation that aims to strengthen council’s powers.
Legislation introduced by Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess would allow council to hire its own solicitor for independent legal advice. Council currently relies on the advice of the city’s law department, which often represents the mayor’s views. The city’s home rule charter allows council to hire its own legal adviser.
Another recent piece of legislation would require council approval for assistant and associate city directors, who did not previously need to be vetted by council.
“I’m not going to apologize for doing our job,” Kail-Smith said at a council meeting Wednesday.
“The question should be not, ‘Why are we doing it?’ the question should be, ‘Why is it taking so long?” she said.
Kail-Smith said the measures would allow council members to do the job “we’re actually elected to do.”
Previous councils may not have pushed for their own power and independence from the mayor’s office because council members had developed strong relationships with mayors who had served alongside them on council. But neither nominee in November’s mayoral race served on council, she said.
“Whoever wins the election in November, we want them to be a strong mayor, because without a strong mayor, our city’s not strong. We want them to succeed, because without their success, our city’s not successful,” she said. “But that does not mean that council does not want some checks and balances, and it’s what we should be doing.”
Regardless of who the new administration is, Kail-Smith said council leaders will sit down with them when they take office to discuss “how we can best work together.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re going to weaken council,” she said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t do things in the best interest of the public.”