The Governmental Affairs Committee of the New Orleans City Council unanimously approved on Wednesday two nominees for Mayor Helena Moreno's leadership team.
The committee reported favorably on the appointments of Dr. Jennifer Avegno to run the city's Health and Human Services department and Charline Gipson as city attorney.
As a councilmember, Moreno supported creating this process, and said that now that she is in the executive branch of government, her opinion has not changed.
"There was a little bit of opposition to it" at the time it was proposed, said Moreno, "due to the fact that they felt that the mayor will not be able to do all that he or she would want to, when it came to building their leadership team."
Moreno said she sees the process as a plus for any mayor.
"Due to the fact that I would have the ability to really sell to not on the city council but to the public how amazing the people working for me are going to be and just how talented and qualified, and qualified, they really are."
Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso, and Michael Harrison, the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, also appeared before the committee to answer their questions Wednesday, even though their positions are not required to have council approval.