A committee structure overhaul by the Austin City Council is officially underway after council members agreed during Tuesday's work session meeting to tentatively eliminate nearly half of the council committees. In an effort to help streamline the bureaucratic process and make more efficient use of council members and staff’s time, council reached initial consensus to do away with the Public Utilities; Public Safety; Open Space, Environment, and Sustainability; and Economic Opportunity committees. There was also an agreement to merge the Housing and Community Development Committee with the Planning and Neighborhoods Committee. A committee structure overhaul was prioritized for early 2017 after several council members and the mayor agreed the current committee structure was not an efficient use of time and resources. There were concerns that committees created a chain of redundancies, as much of the work done by committees was being done at the council-appointed boards and commissions level. District 2 Council Member Delia Garza said cutting committees was no trivial task as it would result in “hours and hours” of time given back to council members, their staff and city staff. Mayor Pro Tem Kathie Tovo said that time should be considered as a taxpayer resource. By the end of Tuesday’s meeting, the only committees remaining were the Audit and Finance Committee, a committee required by the city’s charter; the Austin Energy Oversight Committee, which includes every council member, the Mobility Committee, a group that lost two of its four members last election; the Health and Human Services Committee, one committee that has no overlap with any work done at the boards and commissions level; and a combination of the Housing and Community Development and the Planning and Neighborhoods committees. However, because Tuesday's meeting was only a work session, no official action was taken on the committee structure changes. Such a change will require a rewrite of the city code by the city’s legal department—an effort that won't be ready for council action until Feb. 9, City Attorney Anne Morgan said. According to the city’s code, committee appointments are two-year terms, starting from the date of appointment. This means that if no action is taken prior to Feb. 12, all committee appointments will be vacated. Committees are tasked with vetting information on certain issues and making recommendations to the full council. However, there are still questions surrounding what the duty and focus of council committees will be, and what kind of parliamentary power, if any, they will have. Mayor Steve Adler said Tuesday’s discussion was likely the first of many conversations about the more efficient use of time and resources. District 6 Council Member Jimmy Flannigan said the committees should seek to address six strategic outcomes the council came up with during the city’s strategic planning meeting earlier this month.