A city workforce that has become less diverse will soon have a new member charged with reversing that trend, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl pledged yesterday.

The hunt for an equal opportunity officer to upgrade minority recruitment is one part of a two-pronged staff shift announced yesterday. It's billed as Mr. Ravenstahl's effort to insert his priorities into a city hierarchy that he's run for eight months, and recently cleared of several hold-overs from predecessor Bob O'Connor's inner circle.

He's also looking to hire a manager assigned to measuring city government's effectiveness, which he said reflects the need for accountability in the 3,200-member workforce.

"It's clear that we're not doing as well at hiring minorities as we need to," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "We have to do a better job, and I've determined that it's through outreach, it's through communications, it's through marketing, it's through having an individual there that's solely responsible for outreach and recruitment."

A city that is one-third African American has a Police Bureau that is 80 percent white, a paramedic service that is 87 percent white, and a Fire Bureau that is 90 percent white. All three public safety services have grown less diverse in recent years.

Recruitment of women to those roles has only been slightly better.

Mr. Ravenstahl said his administration has tried to recruit minorities through churches, and "had some success, but not the success that's necessary to really secure the diversity that we need."

He said he's hoping the new equal opportunity officer, who will be paid $69,991, will bring experience in the field and knowledge of what's worked in other cities.

Such a hire "is long overdue," said M. Gayle Moss, president of the Pittsburgh NAACP. "We are a part of this whole business of the most livable city. Whatever the city does, we should be a part of that."

Her biggest concern: "I just hope that this person will have the clout and the respect of his colleagues, that he will be able to effectuate change in the city."

The manager will report to Personnel Director Barbara Trant, but will have the ear of the mayor, Mr. Ravenstahl said. "At the end of the day, that will be my responsibility as mayor to implement the necessary changes that are suggested by this person," he said.

He said he does not believe the city's hiring process penalizes minorities, but the new manager will have the power to look at the system of tests, background checks and interviews that guide city hiring decisions.

The hiring of an equal opportunity manager "can make a heck of a difference," said Councilwoman Tonya Payne. She said the city requirement that police recruits have 60 college credits may be a high bar to some minority candidates, and the city should consider allowing new hires to finish accumulating the credits within a certain time after they start with the city.

Another impending hire is a manager for a system the mayor is calling PittMAPS, those last letters standing for Management, Accountability, Performance and Strategy. The mayor said he decided he needs such a system and a person to run it when he realized that he has no way of knowing whether the city is on track to meet performance goals he set in his first budget.

Those goals, for instance, include razing 422 buildings, removing 24,000 abandoned tires, and patching 40,000 potholes.

"There's no tangible way, right now, that I can pull those numbers to take a look at the success of different departments and employees, and that's something I want to be able to do," he said. "We're just not measuring it right now, four months in, five months in, like we need to."

The city recently has come under fire for the lack of an objective system for determining which streets get paved. The mayor said the city is considering an overhaul of its management software that would affect decision-making and accountability throughout the workforce.

Under Mayor Tom Murphy, the city began to use a management system called CitiStat, which was pioneered in Baltimore and touted by Councilman William Peduto. Mr. Ravenstahl said CitiStat gradually fell into disuse, and PittMAPS would replace it.

The PittMAPS project manager will be paid $56,541.

The administration also is looking for a press secretary, who will make $71,749 a year, to replace Dick Skrinjar, who was transferred to the Parks Department a week ago. The mayor also offered former Senior Secretary Marlene Cassidy a post in the Pittsburgh Parking Authority, which she is considering, and sent former Government Relations Manager Anna Dobkin to the Planning Department.

The mayor said he has no one in mind for any of the posts, and that all applicants must go through the city's Web site, www.pghgov.com.