NEW YEAR- NEW COUNCIL

Tonight, a new council is sworn in and the first bit of interest is the election of Council President and Vice President.

Will Ed Fitzgerald have enough backing from the new members (Butler & Antonio) to overthrow Seelie as President? As I understand it, Councilwoman Madigan is the swing vote.
Fitzgerald wants to be Council President, he has essentially stacked the Council with his people through the November election. He will use that power to his advantage on Committee assignments. Whether or not he has the power to make the Mayor do anything remains to be seen.

The other item that was supposed to be discussed at tonight's meeting is the Income Tax hike, however in perusing the docket for tonight's meeting it is not listed. Perhaps they're tabling that for the January 16th meeting.

I also don't see on the docket the Smoke Free legislation, this could be a short meeting.