Council President Linehan announced appointments to two ad hoc committees — one to review library governance and the other to draft or recommend a council code of conduct — and the council voted to receive the communication at its Aug. 12 meeting.

Linehan said the ad hoc library committee would be chaired by Councillor Winslow with Councillor Taylor as vice chair and Linehan and Councillor Condon as members. For the code of conduct committee, Linehan named Councillor McDonald as chair, Councillor Colon Hayes as vice chair and Councillors Crow and Cica as members. The council received the communication by motion, second and voice vote.

Linehan told colleagues these committees build on previous requests and council action from June and are intended to be narrow, time‑limited working groups. “My hope is that this committee can produce a report with some recommendations and action items in the coming months,” Linehan said when announcing the library committee.

Councillor Winslow said she accepted the library committee chair role and described her approach as one of dialogue and education to strengthen the working relationship between the council and the library trustees. “That’s really the spirit I wanna bring,” Winslow said.

Councillor McDonald, who accepted chairing the code of conduct committee, framed that committee’s work as codifying norms and practices for how council members engage one another. “I want the discussion up here to be something that they can look up to,” McDonald said, adding that the effort is about stating norms for productive disagreement and building public trust.

The ad hoc library committee and the code of conduct committee were described as intentionally small, with Linehan and other members saying they expect to set timelines and report back to the full council. Councillors asked for written confirmations of membership and schedules; Linehan agreed to circulate details.

Action: the council made a motion to receive the communication regarding appointments; the motion was seconded and received by voice vote. No substantive policy decisions were made in the meeting; the committees will develop recommendations for future council consideration.