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Who has the ability to remove Mayor Adams? The ‘inability committee’ for one.
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Brigid Bergin
Published Feb 18, 2025
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Ayman Siam/Office of NYC Comptroller
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Feb 18, 2025
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New York City Comptroller Brad Lander threatened Tuesday to convene an “inability committee” that would consider whether to remove Mayor Eric Adams, setting up a clash over the obscure measure originally intended to address medical emergencies.
Lander gave Adams a deadline of Friday to submit a plan for “stabilizing the administration” after four deputy mayors submitted resignation letters, or he would invoke his authority under the City Charter to convene the committee. Still, a recommendation to expel Adams appeared like a long shot. The five-member committee includes two Adams appointees, at least one of whom would have to vote in favor of ousting their boss.
“ New Yorkers need to know, how is the city going to guarantee a continuity of the operations and services that they rely on, again every single day, from something as simple as the garbage getting picked up to what happens in snow storms, what happens in emergencies,” Lander said Tuesday.
He spoke as Gov. Kathy Hochul met with other prominent Democrats about whether to use her own authority to remove Adams. After meeting with Hochul, Lander said she was examining both measures – the inability committee and her own authority as governor – to potentially remove Adams.
The mayor’s administration has been engulfed in chaos since the Department of Justice ordered Manhattan federal prosecutors to file a motion to dismiss corruption charges against Adams. Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Emil Bove justified the move by saying Adams was unable to cooperate with President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. That prompted several prosecutors, including the acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Danielle Sassoon, to resign in protest, saying the motion represented a quid pro quo that traded Adams’ cooperation on immigration enforcement for dropping the charges.
Judge Dale Ho, who will rule whether to dismiss the case, will hold a hearing on Wednesday.
Lander, who is also a Democratic candidate for mayor, wrote to Adams that those developments “call into question your ability to continue to comply with your duties to New Yorkers under the City Charter.”
But questions remain about whether the untested inability committee provision could be used to remove a mayor who is not medically incapacitated.
Here’s a primer on the measure.
What is the inability committee?
A Charter Revision Commission added the provision after Mayor Ed Koch suffered a minor stroke in 1987, and it’s never been used.
Last year, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who would serve on the committee if it were convened, was skeptical it would apply to Mayor Adams.
After the mayor was indicted, Speaker Adams said she was not “currently looking” at the prospect of the inability committee because it was intended for cases where the mayor is “physically unable to fulfill his role.”
Who would make up the “inability committee”?
According to the New York City Charter, the “inability committee” would consist of the city’s corporation counsel, comptroller, City Council speaker, the longest serving borough president and a deputy mayor of the mayor’s choosing.
In this case that would mean the inability committee would include Corporation Counsel Muriel Goode-Trufant, Lander, Speaker Adams and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards. The deputy mayor who would serve is unclear, especially with four of them on their way out of the Adams administration.
How would it work?
Any of those members can convene the inability committee. If they determine that Adams can not effectively govern the city, at least four of the five members would need to certify that in writing and present it to the mayor. Adams would have two days to respond. That declaration would then go to the City Council, who are defined in the charter as the “panel on mayoral inability.” The Council would be required to hold a vote within 21 days, with two-thirds required for passage.
If the declaration is adopted, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would become the acting mayor. If the vacancy occurs before March 26, the office of the mayor would be filled through a special election. If it occurs after March 26, the office would be filled after the general election on Nov. 4.
What are some of the legal questions?
There are many! It’s never been tested before.
“The exact parameters of this provision are not clear,” said Stephen Louis, a professor at New York Law School who worked in the city's Law Department for four decades. Louis noted the inability committee provision is in a section of the charter that deals with the mayor’s ability to perform his or her duties either temporarily or permanently. It is not in the same section as the one that addresses the mayor's removal.
However, Louis said Lander has initiated this process in an interesting way because his letter to the mayor offers Adams a chance to prove himself by offering that contingency plan.
“ Lander is putting it in the framework that's closer to what this whole notion of the inability committee seems to be about,” Louis said. “Is he able to do the job?”
Is this the only way to remove a mayor?
No, the ultimate power to remove a mayor rests with the governor under the state constitution. But that presents another set of unprecedented legal challenges that have not been tested since a governor has never removed a New York City mayor from office.
Lander said he hopes the mayor opts to resign and encourages his outgoing deputy mayors to stay in their posts.
“ If he doesn't, then we'll have to go down the path of considering what our responsibility is as members of the inability committee,” Lander said.
Jimmy Vielkind contributed reporting.
Tagged
new york city
Politics
Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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