Council approves multiple routine resolutions, funds and an appointment

Pittsburgh City Council on May 12 approved a series of routine resolutions, funding authorizations and one personnel appointment during a meeting dominated by public comment and committee business.

Among formal actions, council approved the appointment of Rhonda Sherrill as assistant director, secretary and chief examiner of the Department of Human Resources and Civil Service after a voice vote. "All those in favor, say aye," the council president called; the clerk recorded the appointment as approved.

The council also recorded final passage of several committee-reported items by roll call, with the clerk announcing unanimous tallies in multiple votes. The finance and law committee report (bill 4 63) was adopted following a roll-call vote that the clerk recorded as 8–0. The public-works committee reported approvals for engineering and construction contracts and reimbursement agreements tied to the RAISE grant and the Bikeshare/Pogo expansion; those items were recorded as having passed by roll call.

Council approved a $250,000 reimbursement to the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy for horticultural and forestry work in Allegheny Commons, August Wilson, Emerald View, Highland and Riverview Parks. The clerk recorded the vote as 8–0 and announced that the bill had "received the legal requirement of votes" and passed.

On public-safety reporting, council amended a resolution directing quarterly police data reporting to add gender and perpetrator area of residence; the amendment passed and subsequent votes recorded the bill as passed.

Several other items were introduced and either received committee referral or were read to be filed, including legal-services agreements for the Commission on Human Relations, grant-acceptance language for post-overdose training funds, and procedural amendments related to records management and a housing-data dashboard. In most cases the clerk recorded either that an item was "not ready for final action" or that it had received the votes required for final passage.

The council closed the meeting with announcements about an afternoon executive session on litigation and a reminder that the standing committee meeting would be held the next morning.