Perez Shakes Up Committee Assignments

Common Council President Jose G. Perez announced new committee assignments Thursday that will alter how the city’s legislative arm functions.

Alderman Khalif Rainey finds himself without a chairmanship, while Ald. Russell W. Stamper, II again leads a committee and Alderwoman JoCasta Zamarripa will chair her first committee. Other chairs were moved to different committees.

The council president, elected by their peers, can unilaterally make the assignments and designate the powerful chair positions. Perez was unanimously elected president April 19 following the resignation of newly-elected Mayor Cavalier Johnson.

The committee level is where the vast majority of the council’s debate takes place. The committees host formal public hearings and directly interface with city department representatives. The full council receives reports from committees and regularly adopts the recommendations in their entirety.

Perez made the assignments from only 12 of the 15 council seats. Johnson vacated his second district seat upon his election. Ald. Nik Kovac is expected to resign in the coming weeks to become Johnson’s budget director. Ald. Chantia Lewis, who faces four felony charges related to campaign finance violations, continues to vote during council meetings, but was removed from her committee assignments in September.

“This was a difficult list to put together,” said Perez in a statement. “I’ve had to ask my colleagues for an even bigger lift than usual.”

Perez previously chaired the Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee, but as president he becomes chair of the Steering and Rules Committee, which is a committee comprised of the council’s committee chairs. His election created a vacancy in his own committee, that allowed him to kick off a game of musical chairs.

Ald. Michael Murphy, the council’s longest-serving member, will now chair the zoning committee. His Finance & Personnel Committee chair will now be occupied by Ald. Marina Dimitrijevic, who in turn is ceding her Public Safety & Health Committee chairmanship to Zamarripa.

Council members Robert Bauman, Milele A. Coggs and Ashanti Hamilton are maintaining their chairmanships.

Stamper is replacing Rainey as chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee. Stamper previously chaired the committee prior to Johnson’s 2020 selection as president.

“I have always promised myself and my colleagues that those called to lead this Council would be representative of the entire community and I think these appointments reflect that,” said Perez. “I want to thank all the members of the Council for their conversations leading up to the creation of this list and I look forward to getting to work with them.”

Perez, at least until special elections are held to fill the vacant seats, will serve as a member of the zoning committee.

The changes are effective May 10, the date of the next scheduled council meeting. The council and committees meet on a three-week cycle.

Community & Economic Development Committee

• Stamper (chair)
• Nikiya Dodd (vice chair)
• Hamilton
• Rainey
• Zamarripa

Finance & Personnel Committee

• Dimitrijevic (chair)
• Scott Spiker (vice chair)
• Coggs
• Murphy
• Zamarripa

Judiciary & Legislation Committee

• Hamilton (chair)
• Bauman (vice chair)
• Murphy
• Dimitrijevic
• Rainey

Licenses Committee

• Coggs (chair)
• Mark Borkowski (vice chair)
• Dodd
• Spiker
• Hamilton

Public Safety & Health Committee

• Zamarripa (chair)
• Borkowski (vice chair)
• Spiker
• Coggs
• Rainey

Public Works Committee

• Bauman (chair)
• Hamilton (vice chair)
• Stamper
• Borkowski
• Dodd

Zoning, Neighborhoods & Development Committee

• Murphy (chair)
• Bauman (vice chair)
• Perez
• Stamper
• Dimitrijevic

Steering & Rules Committee

• Perez (chair)
• Dimitrijevic (vice chair)
• Hamilton
• Bauman
• Coggs
• Murphy
• Stamper
• Zamarripa