After less than an hour of Q&A this morning, SDOT director nominee Greg Spotts won unanimous support from the City Council’s Transportation and Public Utilities Committee. His nomination now goes to the full council for a final vote, likely one week from today (September 13th). The council asked most of its questions in writing (as reported here over the weekend, here’s the document with the answers), but there were a few during the meeting,

West Seattle/South Park Councilmember Lisa Herbold had two questions, including one she attributed to a constituent – how he would do the job without an engineering background. Spotts replied that he would rely on the professionals in that area and others, and that he sees his role as “shaping” their work, comparing that role to an orchestra conductor. He talked about his background overseeing a portfolio of $10 billion in megaprojects in the Los Angeles mayor’s office, and added that more recently, he had overseen the StreetsLA engineering division for eight nonths, during a transition time. But, he added, he’s not planning to micromanage “individual details of individual projects.” Herbold also asked if Spotts had yet familiarized himself with Seattle’s sidewalk problems, both neighborhoods without them and the many areas where they’re in poor condition. He said he’d been reading reports/audits on the situation and that he’s heartened that the city has mapped its sidewalk conditions, as the first step toward fixing a problem is understanding its extent. In his opening remarks, Spotts noted that he has already received more than 40 invitations for “listening tours.” He also said that if Seattle Public Schools start as scheduled tomorrow, he’s planning to join Mayor Harrell in walking students to school in West Seattle. (We’re awaiting details on where that would be happening.) Tomorrow is also his first day as interim SDOT director, pending final confirmation. ADDED: Here’s video of the meeting: