Vice mayor to name committee chairs next week

Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors says she'll announce committee appointments, including the powerful budget and finance chairman, next week.

Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors will announce the Metro Council committee chairs the latter part of next week, she said Wednesday.

Selecting committee members and the chairs is a function of the vice mayor. The budget and finance committee chairman is among the most important appointments Neighbors will make.

“There are a lot of key committees,” Neighbors said. “If you think about the things happening with schools, the new convention center, conversations around General Hospital. There are several committees that will be playing important roles on those issues.”

Neighbors said she has chosen about a third of the committee chairs and added that some Council members will be moved to different committees.

Council members can only serve as a committee chairman for a one-year term with the exception of the traffic and parking committee and the Planning Commission.

Neighbors said committee chair selection is important this year because of the key issues on the horizon. In general, Neighbors said her preference was for second-term Council members, although there will be some exceptions.

Metro Council will elect a new pro tempore vice mayor at its Tuesday meeting. The new committees will begin serving starting with the meetings scheduled for the first week of September.