The City Council's personnel committee has approved one of Mayor Pro Tem Myron Lowery's new appointments.
The committee approved former City Councilman Jack Sammons unanimously as Lowery's new chief administrative officer.
The committee voted to move the nomination of former U.S. Attorney Veronica Coleman-Davis as City Atty. to executive sessions so all council members can speak on the issue. Sammons and Coleman-Davis will have a final vote before the council this afternoon.
Coleman-Davis would replace current City Atty. Elbert Jefferson, who Lowery fired on Friday. Jefferson got a restraining order over the weekend to allow him to keep working until the council decides his fate later on today.
Lowery says he fired Jefferson because of soaring fees paid to outside attorneys over the last few years. Between 2006 and 2009, city spending on outside legal, consulting and lobbying contracts jumped to nearly $8 million, an increase of more than 100 percent.
Jefferson and Coleman-Davis are now both sitting at the council's table in the fifth-floor conference room while council members discuss police hiring.
More to come later.
Leave a comment