Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said today that he wants four City Council members to go to the city's Ethics Hearing Board to discuss the payment of a legal bill incurred in connection with their challenge to a Lamar Advertising billboard.

"Certainly, I'm not one to rush to judge," Mr. Ravenstahl said. "I certainly take [the council members] at their word that they didn't mean to do anything wrong."

An Ethics Hearing Board airing would help "to get this issue behind us," he said, invoking his appearance before the board last year following news that he attended a high-dollar charity golf event as a guest of the Penguins and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. "The ethics board should voluntarily take a look at this just as I voluntarily met with the board."

Councilman Ricky Burgess has already asked the state Ethics Commission to review how council should handle the disputed legal bill. Mr. Ravenstahl praised that move.

Councilman William Peduto said that the state panel's review should be enough. He said that commission should review a legal opinion issued by the city Law Department that found him, Mr. Burgess, Councilman Bruce Kraus and Council President Doug Shields in a conflict-of-interest situation because they voted tentatively to have the city pay a $10,706 legal bill, a bill incurred without a full council vote.

"The state ethics board has the staffing and the resources to effectively evaluate each part of this opinion, moreso than the city's Ethics Hearing Board, which is volunteers and has an annual budget of $10,000," Mr. Peduto said.

Yesterday, Mr. Peduto, Mr. Shields, Mr. Burgess and Mr. Kraus walked out of council's meeting when the legal bill came up for a final vote. As a result, there were not enough votes to approve or reject its payment, and it was back-burnered.

They walked out because the Law Department opined that they could "take no further action of any kind" on the bill, or they would face possible removal from office, because it is a personal debt they owe and any official action to have it paid would constitute a conflict of interest.

They hired the lawyer, Hugh McGough, to challenge a permit Lamar got, without public hearings or votes, to put a 1,200-square-foot electronic billboard on the Grant Street Transportation Center, Downtown. They did not get prior approval from council to hire Mr. McGough.

Lamar has settled the permit challenge with Councilman Patrick Dowd, who challenged the permit separately with private legal counsel. Lamar agreed to submit a new permit application that will go before the Zoning Board of Adjustments and the planning commission, unlike the original.