The Port Authority is running on empty. A beam collapsed in the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, which was built and is run under the auspices of the Sports & Exhibition Authority.

After citing those problems, county Councilman Vince Gastgeb, R-Bethel Park, said last night that maybe it is time for Allegheny County government to step up and take over some of the work it has handed out to various authorities.

"If I made these mistakes, I wouldn't be voted back into office," Mr. Gastgeb said. "Maybe we are just as bad as they are, but at least we're accountable."

He said the county should take a look at the Port Authority, which was created in 1958, the sanitary authority, which dates to 1946, the airport authority which was created in 1999 and the Sports & Exhibition Authority, formerly the Public Auditorium Authority, which goes back to 1953, to see if they make sense in 2007.

In the process, he said, maybe the county could clean up some of the minor boards that no longer serve their original functions. For instance, there's no tasks assigned to the Allegheny County Jail Program Task Force Executive Board that was created in 1996. That's because the board doesn't have any members appointed to it.

To address those issues, Mr. Gastgeb and Councilwoman Jan Rea, R-McCandless, are sponsoring legislation which was introduced at last night's meeting and referred to committee.

Mr. Gastgeb said county government has changed since most of its boards, authorities and commissions were created. In 2000, Allegheny County changed from a system in which three elected commissioners ran the government to one in which a chief executive and a 15-member County Council run it.

"It's time we look at the authorities and make some changes in the authorities," Ms. Rea said.

Mr. Gastgeb pointed to the 2005 incident at the convention center in which a beam dropped 21/2 inches, saying that could have been seen as a harbinger of the Feb. 5 collapse of a section of flooring. Instead, it was handled quietly without the elected officials being informed.

He also pointed to the financial problems of the Port Authority.

"The root of the problem is that all of these occurred within an authority. You don't know who they are and they're not accountable," he said.