PROVIDENCE — For what might be the first time, the City Council is preparing to use its investigative authority and issue subpoenas to secure records and question members of the Cicilline administration as it tries to document exactly who knew what, and when, during the Dec. 13 snowstorm that crippled the city.

Last night, at a freewheeling meeting that included speakerphone calls to track down Mayor David N. Cicilline’s chief of staff — and the accusation by the city’s internal auditor that the Cicilline administration is intentionally obstructing his ability to secure city records — the council’s Finance Committee voted to create a three-person independent review board to investigate the response to the storm.

The chairman of the Finance Committee, John J. Igliozzi, would have subpoena power to procure documents and testimony for the review board.

“This is a precedent-setting event. It’s never happened before. Never,” Igliozzi said. “This is the first time ever that the Providence City Council is invoking its investigative power and subpoena authority.”

The board would be composed of three unpaid members selected from outside city government. They would be given $5,000 to hire experts and reimburse their expenses,and report back within 60 days. The full council will need to approve the board’s creation at its meeting next Thursday, but the independent review is expected to have the support of both the council’s majority and minority factions, and should pass.

The council has been aggressive in trying to determine fault for mistakes made during the Dec. 13 storm. As a result of that afternoon snowfall, school children were stranded in traffic on more than 60 city buses late into the night and council members have been trying to determine whether it was due to negligence. Once the city police were notified at roughly 8:30 p.m., they drove to each bus and took the children off. As a result, Emergency Management Agency Director Leo Messier was fired and Deputy Supt. Tomas Hanna was suspended without pay for 30 days.

They have directed much of their ire at Supt. Donnie Evans. A push to pass a resolution demanding Evans’ resignation failed to come to a vote last week, but council members continue to seek ways to press the issue,

The council had previously instructed Internal Auditor James J. Lombardi to obtain the e-mail correspondence and telephone records from city and school officials the evening of the storm. But Lombardi’s efforts have been halted, he said, by the efforts of Deborah Brayton, Cicilline’s chief of staff.

“There is a pattern and practice of preventing myself and [Igliozzi] from obtaining information in a timely fashion,” Lombardi said.

“They are attempting to undermine my office’s ability to obtain documents and be helpful to the City Council. They are violating the code of ordinances by interfering with my office’s obtaining direct access to records,” he concluded.

Lombardi said that he sought records from the city administration, the School Department and the police. The city’s information technology staff told him that “Deb Brayton, the chief of staff, was holding up the request,” he said.

“This is the public’s information. Is someone ever going to get that in this administration?” said Councilman John J. Lombardi, who initially made the call for an independent investigation.

Cicilline said last night that he does not have a problem with another review, but that he wants to move past the issue.

“Even though my administration has already taken numerous action steps in response to the Dec. 13 storm, we will certainly assist the City Council in another review of the storm should the council vote to do so,” he said. “But let’s be clear — city government has a lot of work to do and it is critically important that we focus on the difficult challenges ahead, such as pension reform, passing the school budget and the ramifications of a $450-million state budget deficit.”

The council’s Finance Committee had asked Brayton and Kim Rose, the School Department’s chief communications officer, to attend last night’s meeting and testify about their actions the night of the storm. Rose attended, but Brayton did not.

The meeting was delayed as Igliozzi tried unsuccessfully to track her down. Then, Igliozzi asked that Stephanie Federico, the ranking member of the Cicilline administration at the meeting, to give the city clerk Brayton’s city cell phone number.

Federico provided the number, and Igliozzi called it on speakerphone during the meeting.

The committee room was silent as the call rang out on the speaker.

The call went to Brayton’s voice mailbox.

“Hmm. She must not be available,” Igliozzi said in a deliberate tone. “I think it’s very concerning that one of the individuals who played an integral part in that day is not responding.”

The committee did interview Rose, who testified that she had learned that there were problems with the busing at 6:30 p.m., when she received a call from a concerned parent, but she did not know the widespread nature of the problem at the time. She then called Hanna to discuss that one child, but the conversation did not touch on larger issues.

She became more conscious of the scale of the problem at roughly 7 p.m., when she began receiving media inquiries about the busing situation. A little before 7:30 p.m., she called Hanna back, and after asking him specific questions, learned the scope of the problem. At around 7:30 p.m., she said she called Evans to alert him to the situation.

After her testimony, several council members said that Rose was clearly not at fault for the situation, and that they still want to bring Evans to the table.

“I think we have the wrong person in front of us,” Councilman Nicholas J. Narducci said.

dbarbari@projo.com