More than a year after Pittsburgh officials created the Commission on Infrastructure Asset Reporting, its board remains empty, and City Council has pushed pause on Mayor Ed Gainey’s recent efforts to fill it.

The commission was created after the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse, as officials said the collapse highlighted the need for a more transparent process of maintaining and improving infrastructure.

Legislation approved by City Council more than a year ago tasked the commission with making recommendations on short- and long-term investments in city-maintained infrastructure. The commission was to be comprised of city officials, organized labor representatives and construction industry professionals.

The mayor waited more than a year to name his first nominees for the commission.

Olga George, a spokesperson for Gainey, said the administration held off on trying to staff the commission until recently because they were waiting till city officials had identified the status of various bridges.

Gainey this week submitted his first nominees to City Council, which will need to approve the appointments. Council President Theresa Kail-Smith, D-West End, however, removed the nominations from this week’s council agenda.

Gainey’s initial nominees included Fire Chief Darryl Jones, Councilwoman Erika Strassburger, D-Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh’s Chief Operating and Administrative Officer Lisa Frank and Patrick Cornell, assistant director of the Office of Management and Budget. Zachary Workman and Eric Seltzer, city employees who have been involved with various infrastructure projects with the city’s Department of Mobility and Infrastructure, were nominated.

Also included on the list were several union leaders — including Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council — and Doris Carson Williams, president of the African American Chamber of Commerce of Western Pennsylvania.

Former Pennsylvania Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, who was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor in the 2022 election alongside Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano, also was nominated.

Kail-Smith said council members hadn’t had enough time to properly consider all of the nominees ahead of this week’s council meetings.

“None of us had the chance to absorb it,” she said. “It was such a big list.”

Kail-Smith said she paused the nominations to allow for council members to look into nominees’ qualifications and to address concerns with the mayor’s office.

“We’re already making some changes,” she said, indicating that the mayor may end up changing some of the nominees.

It is not clear when the nominations will come before council again. City Council can interview nominees before voting on their appointments.

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