Plans to create a new Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs in Pittsburgh were paused Wednesday, after a city council member objected to the idea when the current mayoral administration is in a lame duck period.

The proposal, backed by outgoing Mayor Bill Peduto, calls for an office dedicated to connecting immigrants and refugees with resources and benefits offered through city, county, state and federal government and private organizations. The office also would advise other city offices on engaging with immigrant and refugee populations.

The measure is meant to be an expansion of the Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative, which was launched in 2014 to support Pittsburgh’s immigrant and refugee populations.

The Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative is currently housed within the city’s Office of Equity, Councilman Ricky Burgess said.

He opposed the idea of making it into a separate office just weeks before Mayor-elect Ed Gainey takes office.

“I think that now in terms of making executive structural changes to administration should be left up to the new administration,” Burgess said.

Creating new offices, he said, can come with unintended consequences, as they could be cut off from the resources of the office that had previously housed them. Plus, the newly-formed office will require a budget.

Councilman R. Daniel Lavelle questioned where the office would find its funding and how big its budget would be. He said he wanted to “fully understand budgetary impacts” before making a decision on the measure.

“They’re not minor changes,” Burgess said of the transition to make the Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative into a new office.

The original roadmap for the Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative did include plans to create an independent office, city officials said.

Leaving the initiative within the Office of Equity, as it has been since its inception in 2014, at least until the new mayor is in office would have no impact on its work in the community, Burgess said.

“The work will continue. The initiative will continue,” he said. “It’s already doing what it does, so let’s leave it alone.”

The spirit behind the initiative was always honorable, Councilwoman Deb Gross said. Still, she wanted to learn more about how it has lived up to its original goals and how those goals might change if it became an independent office.

“The question of it being an office is a new topic,” she said.

Burgess initially called for council to hold off on the proposal for eight weeks, until Gainey was in office. Council President Theresa Kail-Smith suggested holding the bill for one or two weeks, noting that council members could discuss the measure with the incoming administration before they took office.

City Council ultimately agreed to pause the measure, holding it for four weeks. That would allow the proposal to come back before council in December, while Peduto is still in his lame duck period. Several council members said they needed more information before a final vote.

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