City Hall
Next Year's City Council Committee Assignments
The city council is working out its committee assignments for next year as we speak. Who will get the glamour gigs like public safety and land use? Who'll get stuck with the second-string assignments, like Seattle Public Utilities? Here's what we're hearing so far; final committee assignments will be announced sometime in December.
City Council President: Sally Clark. Clark---known for a deliberative style that has served her well on the land use committee, even as it has frustrated developers sick of the Seattle Process---was straightforward when PubliCola asked her what job she wants on the council next year: Council president, a job we called "a perfect position for her bureaucratic brain."
Clark will likely also take on some aspects of current council president Richard Conlin's regional development and sustainability committee, though Conlin himself will remain in charge of the city's policies toward trees.
Land Use: Richard Conlin. After two terms as council president, Conlin will step down and take over the powerful (if boring) land use committee, currently known as the Committee on the Built Environment.
Budget: Tim Burgess. Burgess has made it clear that after two terms as head of the public safety committee (the maximum any council member is allowed to serve as head of any one committee), he wants to tackle the city's budget, which faces an ongoing revenue shortfall in the tens of millions of dollars.
Energy/City Light: Mike O'Brien. As a member of the council's 2009 freshman class, O'Brien got stuck with Seattle Public Utilities, a position he made the most of, most notably by creating an opt-out system for unwanted phone books. Next year, he'll move up to the committee that oversees City Light (and, currently, the city's technology policy), replacing Bruce Harrell, who's been there four years.
Public Safety: Bruce Harrell. No surprise here: The council member who's advocated loudest for cop cameras and police accountability (at least during recent months, when he's been running for reelection) wants to take over the committee that oversees SPD and fire.
Seattle Public Utilities: Jean Godden. The short-straw assignment. If Godden wins her race for reelection against challenger Bobby Forch---a major "if" in the only truly contentious council race this year---she'll have to give up control of the budget committee, which she's chaired for the past four years. With all the plum assignments taken up by other council members, SPU is pretty much all that's left
Seattle Public Utilities: Bobby Forch. If Forch beats Godden, he'll be the council's lowest-ranking member; like O'Brien, he'll have to pay his dues overseeing the city's water and sewage rates and policies.
Housing, Transportation, and Parks: Nick Licata, Tom Rasmussen, and Sally Bagshaw will all continue to head up their current committees.
City Council President: Sally Clark. Clark---known for a deliberative style that has served her well on the land use committee, even as it has frustrated developers sick of the Seattle Process---was straightforward when PubliCola asked her what job she wants on the council next year: Council president, a job we called "a perfect position for her bureaucratic brain."
Clark will likely also take on some aspects of current council president Richard Conlin's regional development and sustainability committee, though Conlin himself will remain in charge of the city's policies toward trees.
Land Use: Richard Conlin. After two terms as council president, Conlin will step down and take over the powerful (if boring) land use committee, currently known as the Committee on the Built Environment.
Budget: Tim Burgess. Burgess has made it clear that after two terms as head of the public safety committee (the maximum any council member is allowed to serve as head of any one committee), he wants to tackle the city's budget, which faces an ongoing revenue shortfall in the tens of millions of dollars.
Energy/City Light: Mike O'Brien. As a member of the council's 2009 freshman class, O'Brien got stuck with Seattle Public Utilities, a position he made the most of, most notably by creating an opt-out system for unwanted phone books. Next year, he'll move up to the committee that oversees City Light (and, currently, the city's technology policy), replacing Bruce Harrell, who's been there four years.
Public Safety: Bruce Harrell. No surprise here: The council member who's advocated loudest for cop cameras and police accountability (at least during recent months, when he's been running for reelection) wants to take over the committee that oversees SPD and fire.
Seattle Public Utilities: Jean Godden. The short-straw assignment. If Godden wins her race for reelection against challenger Bobby Forch---a major "if" in the only truly contentious council race this year---she'll have to give up control of the budget committee, which she's chaired for the past four years. With all the plum assignments taken up by other council members, SPU is pretty much all that's left
Seattle Public Utilities: Bobby Forch. If Forch beats Godden, he'll be the council's lowest-ranking member; like O'Brien, he'll have to pay his dues overseeing the city's water and sewage rates and policies.
Housing, Transportation, and Parks: Nick Licata, Tom Rasmussen, and Sally Bagshaw will all continue to head up their current committees.
