Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander.
Photograph Credit score: Ayman Siam/Workplace of NYC Comptroller
Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander, who’s operating for mayor, urged Mayor Eric Adams to current a transparent “contingency plan” for protecting town operating following the Monday resignation of 4 deputy mayors — or he’ll transfer to convene a panel that would take away Adams from workplace.
The comptroller despatched a letter to Adams on Monday requesting that he present a contingency plan by Friday, or face him convening the panel, referred to as the Committee on Mayoral Incapacity.
“If he fails or refuses to provide a clear contingency plan for how New Yorkers can rely on the services that make this city run, then, as I said, I will be reaching out to other members of the Committee on Mayoral Inability to discuss the question of whether the mayor can discharge the powers and duties of the office of the mayor,” Lander stated. “How is the city getting guaranteed a continuity of the operations they rely on again every single day?”
Along with the comptroller, the committee would additionally embrace Metropolis Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, Company Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant, a deputy mayor of Adams’ selecting, and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards — who has served the longest out of town’s 5 beeps.
Mayor Eric Adams at a press convention on Feb. 18, 2025 at Bellevue Hospital.Photograph by Dean Moses
Lander’s feedback and summit with Hochul come as she is holding a number of different conferences with prime metropolis officers on Feb. 18 to think about eradicating Adams. They observe President Trump’s Justice Division ordering Adams’ corruption costs to be dropped final week in what many allege is a quid professional quo for his cooperation with the president’s immigration crackdown.
The comptroller stated the upcoming departure of the 4 deputy mayors, who oversee huge swaths of metropolis authorities, might create an “unprecedented leadership vacuum in the weeks to come.” Though the deputy mayors — Maria Torres-Springer, Meera Joshi, Anne Williams-Isom, and Chauncey Parker — should not leaving instantly, they’ve but to supply their official departure dates.
Mayoral spokesperson Kayla Mamelak Altus stated in an announcement that the administration would reply to Lander’s letter with out going into particulars on what that response would come with.
“All deputy mayors remain in their roles for the time being to ensure a seamless transition, and we are actively working to find their replacements,” she stated.
Torres-Springer had held the function of first deputy mayor since final fall when she stepped into the place to stabilize the administration after her predecessor — Sheena Wright — had her residence raided by federal brokers in reference to a separate probe. Parker got here into his function of deputy mayor for public security similarly, taking on the place from Phil Banks, who additionally resigned after having his residence searched by the feds.
Lander stated he would favor for Adams to resign of his personal accord whereas protecting the 4 outgoing deputy mayors in place to “ensure a continuity of services.”
“I can’t say that’s what I expect the response will be,” Lander stated, pointing to Adams lashing out at his critics on Monday within the face of the deputy mayors’ resignations.
“If he has a different plan for what he will do in the face of the resignation of these deputy mayors, he needs to lay it out. And if he doesn’t lay it out, then conversations have to continue about how to make sure that those duties are met,” he added.
Nevertheless, there’s debate over whether or not the lack committee was particularly meant for mayors who’re bodily unable to do their jobs because of sickness or if it applies extra broadly. Lander stated he takes the latter view.
“Is the mayor able to discharge the powers and duties of the office of the mayor under the city charter at this time?” Lander stated. “Those are all questions that New Yorkers are asking, and that is a question that Section 10 of the City Charter assigns to a set of people. And did they envision this particular set of circumstances? They did not envision this particular set of circumstances.”
