TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — In effort to abide by federal laws, the City of Tampa is discontinuing its Racial Reconciliation Committee (TRRC). The group was formed to make recommendations to the city regarding racial discrimination in areas like affordable housing and economic development.

The committed wanted to address racial discrimination in affordable/accessible housing and economic development, as well as empowerment and entrepreneurship, opportunity for youth, and ignored history.

Committee Vice Chair Christopher Harris explained how the group was doing.

“Can we sit here and say that we walked away with the recommendations, the final recommendations? Absolutely not. But I think progress was being made,” Harris said.

City officials said the committee stopped because it used up the amount of time city council members voted to give them. The council was looking to extend their time, but concerns on if they could prompted the legal review. It led to a memo from the City Attorney Thursday, putting a stop to the committed altogether.

“It’s all from the federal government, and I think it’s terrible. I’ve never seen such blatant appeals to racial grievance and division coming from the federal government for things like this,” said Council Member Luis Viera.

Council members put on record that the decision was out of their control. 8 On Your Side asked Council Member Charlie Miranda if there was a way to take a stand against the federal government.

“If there is, it becomes very difficult for the City of Tampa,” Miranda said. “You can wait for the next president elected from either party.”

The memo points to recommendations from the U.S. Attorney General in July saying federal funding recipients should discontinue any program or policy designed to achieve discriminatory outcomes, even those using facially neutral means. The memo also said the Department of Justice is looking for federal fund recipients who “knowingly engage in racist preferences, mandates, policies programs and activities, including through DEI programs that assign benefits or burdens on race, ethnicity or national origin.”

“Some of those words have been, I think, mischaracterized and have become something that maybe (was) not initially intended,” Harris said. “All politics is local. And so you know that politically these things were going to impact us locally at some point.”

Harris said he was not surprised by this decision. And while he said he does not know what percentage of the city’s budget was federal, he understands there was a lot at risk, leaving the council’s hands tied.

“Elected officials would like it if they could do what they can to make the city better. The federal government should not tell us what we can and cannot do. But evidently, that’s what’s trending in this country,” Miranda said.

The memo also mentioned federal funding for FEMA Reimbursement for hurricane response and housing and urban development, and more. This decision did not require a vote.