NEW YORK — In a break with custom, New York City Mayor Eric Adams is keeping tight control over his newly announced Charter Revision Commission, rather than relying on outside experts.

Administration officials on Tuesday said they have no plans to hire outside staff to assist with the endeavor, which entails cracking open the city’s governing document and suggesting changes that will be presented to voters on the November ballot.

The move will help ensure the mayor’s wishes are met, and bolsters a widely held view that the commission, announced last week, is meant to block the City Council from increasing its role in approving mayoral appointees.

Shortly after news broke of the Council’s intentions, Adams announced his own commission that would effectively usurp the legislative body’s. His spokesperson insists the two are unrelated.

Government reform advocates were troubled by the latest machinations.

“You really have to have staff if you are at all serious about it,” John Kaehny, head of the organization Reinvent Albany, said in an interview. “[The mayor’s commission] lacks any sort of seriousness, and the mayor is really giving ammunition to critics who say it is a fatuous political exercise.”

Like his predecessors, the mayor tapped loyalists to sit on the commission. Longtime ally Carlo Scissura will chair the body; one of Adams’ early mentors, Herbert Daughtry, will sit on it.

But mayors usually hire external staff to oversee potential amendments to the City Charter.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Adams argued his predecessors have spent too much money on their charter revision efforts.

“I believe in lean, and quick, and getting stuff done,” he said. “We spend too much money on window dressing. We can do a better job.”

And the mayor’s chief counsel, Lisa Zornberg, said the commission will be run by capable city employees.

“We’re blessed to have people who work in the administration who have served … city government for a long time and who have experience with prior charter revision commissions,” she said. “So we’re tapping into existing experience for the running of it.”

Past Charter Revision Commissions have generally been staffed with both administration employees and outsiders with expertise in law and government.

Running the commission exclusively with city employees is unusual, according to Louis Cholden-Brown, a staffer on the 2019 Charter Revision Commission and former lawyer for the Council speaker.

“A Charter Revision Commission is supposed to review the entire charter,” he said. “And staff generally interested in pulling things apart seem more attuned to that mandate, rather than a team coming in with the mayor’s press release ringing in their ear.”