However, the approval came after pushback from some council members regarding the committee rosters. District 9 Council Member Kathie Tovo and District 5 Council Member Ann Kitchen voiced displeasure that they were left off the new Housing and Planning Committee, which is a merger of the Housing and Community Development and the Planning and Neighborhoods committees. Tovo asked to approve three-fourths of the committee appointments and review the Housing and Planning Committee.
However, city code requires the mayor to appoint the committees on a slate and the council to approve, or reject, the appointments on a slate.
Committee membership cycles on two-year terms, the latest of which expired on Feb. 12. If the council rejected the appointments on Thursday in the name of a single committee, the committees would remain vacant until at least the next council meeting on March 2.
The mayor and council have repeatedly said the committee structure overhaul is only a stopgap measure while the council, with the help of strategic planning consultants, looks for best practices in council efficiency.
Council passed the appointments unanimously. They are as follows:
Audit and Finance Committee
District 8 Council Member Ellen Troxclair (chair), Tovo (vice chair), District 7 Council Member Leslie Pool and Adler.
Alternate: District 10 Council Member Alison Alter.
Health and Human Services Committee
District 1 Council Member Ora Houston (chair), District 2 Council Member Delia Garza (vice chair), Tovo and Kitchen.
Alternate: Pool.
Housing and Planning Committee
District 4 Council Member Greg Casar (chair), Alter (vice chair), District 3 Council Member Sabino "Pio" Renteria and District 6 Council Member Jimmy Flannigan.
Alternates: Kitchen, Pool, and Tovo.
Mobility Committee
Kitchen (chair), Flannigan (vice chair), Alter and Garza. Alternates: Troxclair, Renteria and Pool.
Alternates: Troxclair, Renteria, and Pool.
Austin Energy Oversight Committee
All council members serve on the committee. Pool and Adler are chair and vice chair respectively.
