CHICAGO — The City Council’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday voted 9 – 6 to approve Andrea Kersten as the next Chief Administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, the agency that investigates serious misconduct by Chicago police officers.

The full council will vote on Kersten’s appointment later this month. The public safety committee initially planned to vote on Kersten’s appointment last month, but that vote was delayed after several alders voiced opposition.

Several members of the city council — who represent wards home to scores of police officers and other city employees — were upset by a COPA report that said recently slain CPD officer Ella French should face discipline for her role in the botched 2019 raid at the home of Anjanette Young.

Kersten apologized, but said the report was completed months before French’s death and COPA was legally required to release the report last November.

One of Kersten’s most vocal critics, 38th Ward Ald. Nick Sposato, said earlier this week that his opposition to Kersten’s appointment was “two-pronged.” While Sposato was unhappy with the COPA report on the Young raid, he’s also harbored ill will toward Kersten over her refusal to discuss the fatal 2015 shooting of Quintonio LeGrier and Bettie Jones by former CPD officer Robert Rialmo, a family friend of Sposato.