The Austin City Council will let residents apply to be part of a selection committee honoring former and current Austinites through a flood wall plaque program.

The Pillars of the City program, which will honor residents every year by placing a plaque on one of 76 pillars along the new flood wall on North Main Street, will have a nine-person selection committee that will review nominations on an annual basis.

Though the council had planned to pick selection committee members on their own, Mayor Tom Stiehm and Council Member Janet Anderson asked city officials during a work session Monday night to allow residents to apply for a spot on the committee through the city’s website.

“There might be somebody who could be great on the committee,” Anderson said.

Council members listed several potential candidates for the committee, including prominent volunteers and community leaders. Committee members would serve three-year terms.

One of those members could be Jeff Anderson of Anderson Memorials. The city plans to work with Anderson to install the plaques each year. Anderson shared cost estimates and plaque options with the council during the work session.

According to Anderson, plaques could cost anywhere between $1,000 to several thousand dollars depending on what the city wanted. Finance Director Tom Dankert said the council could use the city’s contingency fund to pay for plaques in 2015, should the committee begin work this year.

The council is expected to solidify its committee and nomination process over the next few weeks.

“We’ve got momentum going right now,” Stiehm said.