The Council’s Government Operations Committee officially has jurisdiction over obscure-sounding agencies. But new chair Gale Brewer could have a tangible role in how New Yorker’s vote and perhaps in reshaping municipal government, advocates say.

Brewer will in be charge of monitoring the new optical scan voting machines and a possible charter review commission.

“It’s going to fall in her lap in terms of Council oversight,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the New York Public Interest Group. “She’ll be the Council’s eyes and ears.”

The State Legislature has ultimate authority over election matters, so in ensuring that the 2010 elections run smoothly, Brewer’s only weapon will be committee hearings.

Brewer passed only three bills out of the Technology Committee during her eight years in that chair, focusing instead on providing Internet access to public parks and increasing affordable broadband.

“Sometimes, it’s about bringing the issue to light,” Brewer said.

Good government groups that have been awaiting the details of the charter review commission are worried that it will be packed with supporters of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Brewer, too, is concerned that the commission will not have the legitimacy of the one in 1989 that dramatically restructured city government.

“The ones that have existed since then have not had the same caliber,” Brewer said. “I don’t know how the City Council could play a role, but it’s something we should be invested in.”

Before the term limits extension debate put the spotlight on him, Simcha Felder had most distinguished himself as Government Ops chair in the eyes of advocates by letting them and members of the public testify first—before city officials—at hearings. Brewer said some of her innovations will be streaming hearings online and allowing New Yorkers to call in to participate.

Good government groups that have been pushing for additional Council reforms see an ally in Brewer, who supported campaign finance laws and voted against the term limit extension—two major issues the committee handled. Among the items on their wish list: ending lulus and making the Council an officially full-time job.

For now, Brewer’s committee agenda seems to be an outgrowth of her constituent service operation. When handling a constituent complaint, her office fires off letters to multiple agency heads. She says agencies need to collaborate rather than passing the buck to one another.

“On the ground, we have a Sanitation Department that doesn’t work with the [New York City Housing Authority]. You got to see where the rubber meets to road on the agencies,” Brewer said. “You can make suggestions, through technology or different practices, to see where there can be better collaboration.”