"It seems like the push is to assign some specific responsibilities to the vice president to enhance his coordinating role," Darling says. He would like to see the officeholder become someone who "collects information and then is in a position to use it."

One proposal, which Burton favors, is to put the vice president in charge of monitoring council task forces that currently are not accountable to specific officers.

But while a majority of committee hopes that the constitution will be changed to expand the vice president's role, some members are less than enthusiastic about entrusting new responsibilities to Burton.

"I think that although the role could

definitely be expanded, the council may hesitate to do so when the current VP can't even fulfill the duties the office already has," he writes in an e-mail message.

Criticism and Persecution

Despite the his opponents' criticism and the possibility of constitutional change, Burton says he does not expect much change in the council's dynamics.

Burton says he has made peace with the fact that he will always have to deal with council members who voted to impeach him and remove him from the council on Feb. 14.