The chair of the city's development and regulatory committees will soon be taking on another role, but it's not at City Hall.

Gov. Mark Dayton on Monday appointed City Council Member Lisa Goodman, who represents half of downtown, to the Minnesota Racing Commission. The nine-member body regulates horse racing and card clubs, and issues licenses to racetrack owners and operators.

Goodman said she was looking for a new animal-related activity as she prepares to finish her term on the board of the Animal Humane Society.

She said the Humane Society has been dealing a lot with animal cruelty and horse-related issues and she wanted to continue work outside City Hall that was related to animals. A fellow board member noted that there were openings on the Racing Commission, so she applied through the open appointments process.

"I just wanted to do something that was in a place where people were working on issues where they treated animals well," Goodman said. "And this is certainly a place where horses are treated really well."