The Rights of the Council vs the Rights of the Mayor and Individual Council Members
As individuals, Mayor , Council Members, and Residents have the same access to City Building.
During the Charter Review Commission process, the question came up why individual Council Members could not use the Council Chambers for their townhall meetings since there was a lack of public space. We were told that based on State stature, that on all levels of governments in the State: City Councils/ County Commissions/School Board Meetings and any place designated as the site for any collective public governing body was off-limits for individual use by elective officials because it blurred the perception of what was the official posture posed by the governing body and opinions posed by individual elective officers. Governing bodies are accorded rights that do not extend to the individual Members of the Governing body.
We were also told that allowing individual elective officers the same access to the public as the collective governing body using taxpayers funds provided individual elective officers undue political influence with the public and weakened the authority of the governing body. Individual elective officials have the right to voice their opinions at all collective governing meetings; and to allow individual elective officials to hold separate townhall meetings in any collective governing chambers sends the wrong message because it precludes the other elective officials the opportunity to directly participate in the discussion under rules adopted by the governing body for conducting their meetings. The rules and guidelines established for Council Meetings do not extend to townhall meetings. The governing body has no control or authority of the agenda or content discussed at townhall meetings. However, if any public funds are used to provide the space for any Mayor’s or Council Members’ townhall meetings, the guidelines established by local policy dictates the nature of the content.
It is illegal and a violation of Federal, State, and City law to provide any elective official public access to residents for the purpose of influencing his/her bid for re-election. Council Member Myron Cook has not had a Ward C townhall meeting in over six years. Now he is up for re-election and he had a townhall meeting in the Council Chambers on Thursday, July 11, 2019. The townhall meeting should not have been allowed. The taping by the City of the townhall meeting should not have been allowed. Airing the townhall meeting on the cable station should have not been allowed. Why aren’t Mayor and Council listening to the City Attorney who is supposed to be on top of issues like these. We pay enough for education/training for the Mayor, Council Members, City Attorney and City Manager to know this.
The public access afforded to the governing body does not stop at the Council Chamber’s door; it extends to visual and recorded media and City paid staff that are assigned to the Council. That means the City paid videographer and equipment, and the City’s cable station cannot be used for Council Members’ townhall meetings. The City does not have a policy for individual Council Members’ and residents using the City cable stations; however, any policy written for individual Council Members’ would have to extend the same rules/guidelines for residents. Individual elective officials do not have anymore authority or access to the use of public own buildings, equipment and staff than residents.
So, in other words, if a group of elective officials short of a quorum want to share any information with the public, they have to do so outside of the governing chambers. Prior to 2003, when I joined the Council, Mayor and Council designated the fifth Monday in a month for Ward townhall meetings throughout the City. Due to the number of citywide townhall meetings that I had on Saturdays and any Council Member could participate, the fifth Monday townhall meetings ceased to exist. Not any Council Members’ townhall meeting ever took place in the Council Chambers; nor were they video taped and shown on the City’s cable station. No Mayor’s State of the City Address that was not taped during a Council Meeting was ever shown on the City’s cable station until former Mayor Jannquell Peters violated the City’s policy and the Agreement with the cable station provider.
Hence, on July 20, 2009, Mayor Joseph “Joe” Macon signed a “RESOLUTION FOR THE ADOPTION OF COUNCIL GUIDELINES FOR THE USE OF COUNCIL WARD EXPENSE ACCOUNT FUNDS”. This Resolution was adopted by Mayor and Council to insure that the Mayor and individual Council Members could communicate with the residents; and insuring that taxpayers’ money was being used for legitimate purposes in keeping with City ordinances and policies and especially the State Gratuity Clause. This is the City’s only Resolution passed by Mayor and Council authorizing taxpayers’ money for use for the Mayor and Council Members. Read the City’s Policy for the Council Ward Expense Account Funds. There are three pages including a reporting form for the use of the funds. CLICK HERE: 022-09_Resolution for the Adoption if Council Guidelines for the use of Council Ward Expense Account Funds
Under this Resolution, “ the Guidelines to be adopted state that the following are the acceptable uses of Council Ward Expenses”:
1) All expenses related to travel and training for workshops, seminars and conferences directly related to City business.
2) All printing and distribution expenses related to communicating with the residents excluding campaign literature.
3) All expenses used to sponsor a town hall meeting, or seminar opened to the public that deals directly with City adopted and/or proposed programs, ordinances and policies.
4) All consumable office supplies
Unless another Mayor and Council administration has voted to amend or repeal this Resolution it is the only one in effect NOW, and is thus the law of the City.
