CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A federal judge says he anticipates hearing from Cleveland public safety Director Michael McGrath on why the city continuously fails to improve investigating citizen complaints against officers.

U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. set a Nov. 21 date for a hearing to discuss deficiencies with the city's Office of Professional Standards, a part of the city's Department of Public Safety that receives and investigates citizen complaints against police.

A one-paragraph order issued Monday to set the hearing says Oliver "requests the presence of those responsible for managing OPS, including Director of Public Safety Michael McGrath and OPS Administrator Damon Scott, and anticipates possible testimony from them."

Revamping OPS is required in a settlement the city reached with the Justice Department. A Justice Department investigation found that investigators too often failed to property look into and handle citizen complaints.

The city has agreed to take steps to clear a backlog of hundreds of open cases stemming from citizen complaints. But the team monitoring the city's progress under the settlement, known as a consent decree, asked Oliver to hold a hearing last week so that city officials involves with OPS can "be called to testify regarding the City's lack of progress," according to a motion.

The monitor has saved some of its harshest criticism for OPS in the past. In June, it wrote in a progress report that it "has run out of words to capture the depth and breadth of the progress that needs to be made to cure the current inability of Cleveland residents to have complaints about City employees fairly and fully addressed in a timely manner -- and pursuant to the City's own Charter."

The monitor's request appears to signal the city is unable to meet the expectations to which it agreed to fix the problems within the office. It is also significant because the team has never asked Oliver to intervene. The judge has previously encouraged the monitor, city and Justice Department to hash out any issues in private.