Immediately after being sworn into office, Atlanta City Council President Marci Collier Overstreet mistakenly appointed the incorrect number of members to council committees.
On Jan. 5, Overstreet appointed eight members to both the Community Development/Human Services (CDHS) committee and Committee on Council. According to city code, standing committees can only have a maximum of seven members. This policy prevents ties within the committees and prevents a standing committee meeting from being legally recognized as a full council meeting, since eight members represents a majority of the 15 council members.
Overstreet told Atlanta Civic Circle that she made the extra appointments because there were “overwhelmingly more” requests from members to serve on the CDHS committee. She rescinded District 5 Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari’s assignment to the CDHS committee and District 12 Councilmember Antonio Lewis’s assignment to Committee on Council, leaving Lewis with only two assignments, CDHS and Public Safety, instead of the typical three or four.
Overstreet told Atlanta Civic Circle that she intended to propose legislation to allow eight members on a committee by mid-year, but Kyle Kessler of the Center for Civic Innovation said this legislation “seems unnecessary.”
Related stories:
• Georgia’s Gold Dome is humming with talk of affordability, though ideas for tackling it vary
• Atlanta Streetcar will resume service on Feb. 3
Committees began meeting on Jan. 12. Find the full meeting schedule here. Committee assignments are as follows:
Finance/Executive Committee
- Jason Winston, Chair
- Byron Amos
- Dustin Hillis
- Mary Norwood
- Wayne Martin
- Matt Westmoreland
- Alex Wan
Transportation
- Alex Wan, Chair
- Byron Amos
- Andrea Boone
- Dustin Hillis
- Mary Norwood
- Matt Westmoreland
- Thomas Worthy
City Utilities
- Dustin Hillis, Chair
- Liliana Bakhtiari
- Kelsea Bond
- Andrea Boone
- Jason Dozier
- Mary Norwood
- Alex Wan
CDHS
- Matt Westmoreland, Chair
- Kelsea Bond
- Michael Julian Bond
- Eshé Collins
- Jason Dozier
- Antonio Lewis
Zoning
- Mary Norwood, Chair
- Liliana Bakhtiari
- Kelsea Bond
- Eshé Collins
- Wayne Martin
- Matt Westmoreland
- Thomas Worthy
Public Safety, Legal Administration
- Andrea Boone, Chair
- Byron Amos
- Michael Julian Bond
- Dustin Hillis
- Antonio Lewis
- Wayne Martin
- Thomas Worthy
Committee on Council
- Byron Amos, Chair
- Liliana Bakhtiari
- Michael Julian Bond
- Andrea Boone
- Eshé Collins
- Jason Dozier
- Jason Winston
