PROVIDENCE — The City Council, still seething over the refusal of the mayor’s chief of staff to speak about her role when hundreds of children were stranded in buses late into the night after the Dec. 13 snowstorm, voted last night to create a three-member panel with the power to subpoena records and testimony from administration officials.

“Some people would just like us to let this go and sweep it under the rug,” said Councilman John J. Igliozzi, the chairman of the council’s Finance Committee. “But this is not about snow. It’s not about personalities. It’s about the fact that the lives of children were jeopardized. We had children who were left without food, water or access to restrooms for as many as 11 hours. And to date, there hasn’t been any concrete assurance to parents that this will not happen again.”

The vote to approve the special panel was 11 to 1, with only Councilman Clifford J. Wood of Ward 2 voting no; members Miguel C. Luna, Leon J. Tejada and Balbina A. Young were recorded as absent.

It signaled a determination on the part of the council to get to the bottom of what has become the source of renewed conflict between the council and the administration of Mayor David N. Cicilline.

Council members were especially upset that the mayor’s chief of staff, Deborah Brayton, was absent and failed to answer phone calls during the previous meeting.

Councilman John J. Lombardi said that in reviewing the records, the panel might want to see whether a text message was sent to Brayton the night of that meeting, advising her not to pick up the phone.

The panel will be unpaid and drawn from outside city government. In a last-minute amendment approved last night, the members of the panel will be appointed by Council President Peter Mancini, who has close ties to the mayor. The original measure had the chairman of the Finance Committee, Igliozzi, appointing the chairman, and the new panel’s chairman appointing the others.

Asked by some members why he proposed the change, Councilman Terrence M. Hassett said that because the panel would be the first of its kind, it was important that members be named by the council president.

Brayton was at the center of another move when the council agreed to ask Richard Kerbel, the new director of administration, to forward all information that pertains to severance pay, including overtime, unused vacation time, sick leave or payments from any other source to retiring employees.

The move was prompted by a bitter dispute over what council members say was an attempt by Brayton to award the previous director of administration, John Simmons, a windfall of $80,000, much of it in unused vacation time, according to Councilman Luis Aponte

Lombardi said he understood that that a check was made out to Simmons, but was stopped at the insistence of the city’s internal auditor and city solicitor. He said that while the administration might say that payments to retiring employees are guided by the contract with the employee, the overriding authority should be the city ordinance, which says that payouts to retirees have to approved by the council.

In other action last night, members unanimously approved a resolution expressing support for the janitorial employees of Hurley of America, which provide the janitorial work at Providence College and who, according to council members, have been subject to harassment and intimidation for their attempt to secure continued healthcare and better wages.

Aponte said 1,000 students and faculty have signed petitions in support of the janitors. A rally to support them is at the main entrance of the college at 3 p.m. today.

rdujardi@projo.com