The Pittsburgh Ethics Hearing Board, resuscitated two years ago this week after a decade of dormancy, is now investigating its first case and finalizing its first recommended changes to the city's code.

Board Chairwoman Sister Patrice Hughes said Friday that pace reflects the five-member panel's philosophy: Get it done right, even if that takes a while.

"I think there's confidence in the group, and we're going to do the best job possible for the city," she said.

The board was revived by the late Mayor Bob O'Connor's administration after questions arose regarding Councilwoman Twanda Carlisle's spending on consultants. Ms. Carlisle was jailed in March for a kickback scheme that put some of that spending in her bank account.

Though it has gotten ample publicity, the panel has received only five formal complaints alleging ethical violations by city employees. Four of those were dismissed without investigation as being outside the board's scope.

The fifth is under investigation, and the board recently hired Monaca-based security firm Gentile-Meinert & Associates Inc. to handle it. Council has authorized spending of up to $10,000. Sister Hughes would not release any information on the probe, because the code bars any parties from discussing ongoing investigations.

The board on Thursday decided to hire Carla Miller, president of the Jacksonville, Fla.-based nonprofit group City Ethics, to help finalize a year-old effort to reconsider city code rules on accepting tickets to charity events. The city Law Department will pay that bill.

The effort to change the code started after Mayor Luke Ravenstahl went to a high-dollar charity golf outing as a guest of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Penguins, both of which had business before the city. The board has weighed whether to require that officials be guests of the charity, rather than of other parties, when they attend such events.

Sister Hughes said she hopes to have Ms. Miller's recommendations in hand for the board's Aug. 7 meeting, and then to send proposed code changes to City Council in September.

Also on the board are the Rev. John Welch, Rabbi Daniel Schiff, Kathleen Buechel, and the newest member, Daniel Devinney, a Lawrenceville lawyer.