As we reported in Morning Fizz this morning, the city council is considering what to do with the mayor's Office of Policy and Management, set up by Mayor Greg Nickels to provide strategic and policy advice early in his term. The council has long been at odds with the 30-employee office, which many council members viewed as a way for Nickels to extend his power and cut them out of major city decisions.

Now we know what they're planning: City Council member Jean Godden has proposed an ordinance that would abolish OPM, eliminating some of its positions and transferring others into the mayor's office. The impact of the proposal would be to reduce the number of staffers (and, importantly, political appointees) advising the new mayor and to increase the relative power of the council.

Some OPM staffers have already been moved out of the office into city departments in an effort to protect them from the scythe of the incoming mayor. Others (including prominent OPM director Mary Jean Ryan) have found jobs outside the city. Still others' jobs will be cut. Nickels spokesman Alex Fryer would say only that "people have gotten other opportunities and are taking them."