A part of city government born out of the racial tensions of the 1960s and ’70s may go the way of bellbottoms and disco Tuesday night.

City commissioners at their weekly meeting will consider approving a recommendation to eliminate the city’s Human Relations Division, the arm of the city long responsible for investigating complaints of workplace and housing discrimination.

“I’m a little concerned that some of these critical cases will now get lost in the shuffle,” said Bob Augelli, a member of the city’s Human Relations Commission.

City Manager David Corliss has recommended eliminating the division in 2010 to save approximately $170,000 a year in salaries and expenses. The cuts will involve the loss of two city jobs — a pair of investigator positions who examine complaints of housing and workplace discrimination.

But Corliss is proposing that the city continue to enforce its local laws prohibiting discrimination in matters of employment and housing.

Toni Wheeler, director of the city’s Legal Services Department, said the plan is for the city’s municipal court prosecutors to take over the duties of investigating complaints of discrimination.

“I feel very confident that our legal staff can provide a high level of service,” Wheeler said. “I don’t think the public will experience a decline in service.”

The Human Relations Division has been dealing with an average of 17 investigations a year since 2007. Thus far in 2009, the department has dealt with 10 investigations.

But some members of the city’s Human Relations Commission — a city advisory board that will remain intact — said those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Augelli said the Human Relations staff received many complaints that never rose to the level of a full investigation but did involve staff members spending some time to try to resolve a bad situation.

“There’s no question that something that is high profile and egregious, the city will attempt to serve justice,” Augelli said. “I’m more concerned about the smaller cases.”

City commissioners will deal with the issue as part of their 2010 budget deliberations. The cutback is currently a part of Corliss’ recommended budget. City Commissioner Mike Amyx has expressed concern about eliminating the division, but none of the other four commissioners has yet said he wants to change the recommendation.

The division — actually it was its own department up until 2007 — began in 1972. That was just two years after the city had suffered through a tense year of cultural and racial protests that came to a head with the shooting death of a 19-year-old black man, Rick Dowdell, who was killed by police as part of an altercation. The death sparked a rash of firebombings and shootings across Lawrence including the shooting death of Nick Rice, a white 18-year-old Kansas University freshman.

The elimination of the division could complicate efforts to approve a new city ordinance designed to prevent discrimination of people based on their gender identity. James Dunn, a member of the Human Relations Commission, said the cutback in staff members was causing him to wonder whether the city should be expanding its anti-discrimination code.

“Before we add anything to the civil rights ordinance, I think we have to figure out who is running the front store,” Dunn said.