New Castle County Council approved a slate of committee co-chairs and the appointment of a legislative aide during its Jan. 14 Executive Committee session, and a council official reminded department leaders that co-chairs do not exercise executive control over county departments.

Council President Monique Williams Johns read the co-chair assignments before the committee and said the selections would proceed "in accordance with Title 9 of the Delaware state code." Members voted to approve the list during the meeting; council members also approved the executive-committee ballot and public-safety co-chairs without recorded opposition.

The committee assignments read into the record included:
- Finance: Councilman Smiley and Councilman Cartier
- Public Works: Councilman Sheldon and Councilman Carter
- Community Service: Councilman Street and Councilman Hollins
- Executive: Councilman Hollins (co-chair)
- Land Use: Councilwoman Kilpatrick and Councilman Tackett
- Economic Development: Councilwoman George
- Technology: Councilman Carter and Councilman Toole
- Boards & Commissions: Councilwoman Durham and President Pro Tem Collins
- Public Safety: Councilman Toole and Councilwoman Koneko

Council members moved and seconded approval; the committee chair called the vote and reported approval. After the votes, a council member spoke at length to clarify the limits of council authority over executive departments, saying that "no council person is in charge of any department" and urging department heads to raise any concerns with the county executive.

On a separate motion, the committee approved the hire of Kieran Weicker as a legislative aide for District 12. Councilman Koneko introduced Weicker, saying she holds a political science degree from the University of Delaware and had worked in community relations at the Delaware Department of Labor; the committee voted to approve the hire.

The committee concluded by calling a short recess. The committee did not take up formal consent votes on the executive’s departmental nominations at this meeting; those votes were scheduled for the Jan. 28 full council session.