NYC Mayor Adams not on board with City Council limiting powers to appoint agency heads

A City Council proposal that would require New York City’s mayor to secure Council approval for top government appointments got little love Tuesday from Mayor Adams, who said he disagrees with the plan.

The measure, which Council Speaker Adrienne Adams floated last week, would require the mayor to get sign-off from the lawmaking body on his agency heads picks — an approval he presently does not need to lock down in most cases.

“I don’t agree with the proposal,” Adams said Monday in his first public remarks about it. “I have not had a conversation with the speaker about it yet to see what’s the whole depth of the bill … I don’t think this is about Eric Adams. I just think it’s philosophies, people have different philosophies.”

The mayor added that the city employs a “strong executive” form of government, which favors the mayor and which he said he likes.

“People should know who they should blame if the streets are not clean, if the commissioners are not delivering,” he said. “They’re going to present their philosophy. We’re going to look at it and make a determination and move forward.”

A bill laying out the Council’s proposal has not yet been introduced or finalized yet, but Council sources told the Daily News last week that all city commissioner posts are being considered for inclusion in expanding the body’s so-called “advise-and-consent” powers.

All of those posts aren’t likely to be included in the bill, though, according to sources, who said that the ones being given the most focus include heads of the Buildings Department, the Office of Emergency Management, the Administration of Children’s Services, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and the Department of Youth and Community Development.

The Council’s legislative plans come as the administration is pushing for the body to approve controversial lawyer Randy Mastro as a replacement for current Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix.

That post, which sits atop the city’s Law Department, is one of the only top positions in city government that require Council approval.