Published by
The Empire

When a mayor leaves town

Who's in charge?

Bloomberg says no matter which deputy mayor he delegates authority to, "the public expects the mayor to be the mayor."

City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. says clarifying the chain of command is only part of what he wants to accomplish with his new legislation.

The other part is telling people who's in charge when the mayor is out of town, which is something Bloomberg and his aides have resisted. But Vallone says the notification is key.

"If there is a way that they can clearly delineate who is in charge for all without some sort of notification," Vallone said in an interview "that may be acceptable. I'm not exactly sure how because a component of this is whether or not the people who make up the city know who's in charge also and know who they have to obey orders from."