Metropolis Council leaders are pushing to drastically develop their oversight of prime mayoral appointments — a proposal that guarantees to be the newest conflict between lawmakers and the Adams administration, The Publish has realized.
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, throughout a closed-door assembly with fellow Democratic members, floated new laws that may require Mayor Eric Adams acquire approval for commissioner-level spots within the administration, in keeping with council sources.
Sources described the trade as a “preliminary dialog” about including broadening the “advice-and-consent” part of the town constitution.
It comes because the mayor, no relation to the speaker, is making an attempt to push through the confirmation of veteran litigator Randy Mastro to take over as New York’s prime lawyer.
The Adams administration has been quietly making an attempt to achieve assist from members of the council earlier than asserting Mastro as its decide as company counsel — changing Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix, who was pushed out after raising issues concerning the metropolis representing the mayor towards decades-old sexual assault claims.
On the identical time, some council members have been whipping votes to shoot down the affirmation of Mastro when it’s put ahead.
The town constitution presently offers Large Apple mayors broad authority to call company heads of their administrations — however the invoice being mulled would considerably curb that energy.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t instantly clear which mayoral appointees would now be topic to council oversight.
Sources stated they didn’t count on all commissioners to be topic to a affirmation course of.
Preliminary discussions included having all however three of any administration’s prime appointments — police, fireplace and correction commissioners — require the council’s approval, one supply stated.
The one top-level appointees that require council sign-off presently are the commissioner of the Division of Investigation and the top of the Regulation Division, aka the company counsel.
The rift between the mayor and the council has grown increasingly larger over recent months following the administration’s refusal to implement sweeping changes to the town’s housing voucher program.
Adams had initially vetoed the housing package deal, however the council overrode the veto, robotically placing the legislation into impact early this yr.
The council then gave Hizzoner one other loss, overriding a pair of his vetoes in January on the ban of solitary confinement and the How Many Stops Act.
Speaker Adams put ahead related laws again in 2021, whereas serving as Public Security Committee Chair, requiring the affirmation of the NYPD commissioner however that invoice by no means made it into legislation.
Along with the Regulation Division chief and DOI head below the Metropolis Constitution, the council additionally has to approve board members of varied metropolis companies, together with the Artwork Fee, Board of Well being and Taxi and Limousine Fee, in addition to a handful of others.
