Dear Mayor Holiday Ingraham,
I am writing this letter in reference to some of the statements that you made to me during the Public Hearing and Public Comments portions of the Council Meeting. I want to first remind you that I served six years as a Council Member and four years as Mayor on the Council. While serving as Mayor, one of my first actions was to have a Saturday Retreat for Mayor and Council to have a discussion about the Charter and the roles of Mayor and Council Members from an Attorney agreed upon by the Council. The Mayor’s role is ceremonial outside of the Council Chambers. In the Council Chambers, the Mayor is the Chairperson of the Council. The Mayor does not have any super powers over Council Members or the residents in the Council Chambers. To make sure that the Mayor and Council Members understood their respective roles in the Council Chambers, we updated and clarified the Council Rules and wrote very specific rules for the Mayor/Chair to follow when interacting with residents or visitors in the Council Chambers during Public Hearings and Public Comments.
This brings us to last night’s Council Meeting. During the Public Hearing on the Proposed FY20 Budget, no one rose in support of the proposed Budget, and I was the first one to speak in opposition. Click Here: JUNE 3 Council Meeting 2019
After my three minutes were up, Jean Wilson stood and yielded her three minutes to me. You stopped me from continuing and said that she had to wait until anyone who were in favor of the Budget made a rebuttal. This was totally out of line with written Council Rules clearly printed on the Agenda. If three residents had wanted to speak in favor the Budget, all three had the right to speak or yield their time before a single person spoke in opposition. Likewise, if two residents wanted to speak opposing the Budget, they both had the right to speak or yield their time without interruption from the Chair. In the end, Ms. Wilson was “allowed” to yield her time and I continued. Madam Mayor, your untimely and unwarranted interruption was a violation of Council Rules and I believed it was done to run out the clock, but I called you on it and my time was given back. Unwarranted interruptions from the Chair is an old tactic used to disrupt, and detract from the speech and the speaker. I was very disappointed by your actions; yet, you managed to get worse during Public Comments.
I was also very disheartened and disappointed that neither you or a single Council Member mentioned anything about the plight of the residents (tax payers) in my speech. You and the other Council Members had a great deal to say about the employees and their need for salary increases, but not one word of residential needs were spoken. CM Callaway did say that the residents needed good employees who needed to be well compensated. After praising the employees and patting yourselves on the back for all that has been done for the City, the proposed FY20 Budget was unanimously adopted without a single change.
Then came Public Comments. Ms. Marie Williams raised temperatures when she showed around five or six pictures of blighted homes in her area and on her street that have not been addressed for some years. I followed Ms. Williams with a strong rebuttal to all the back patting and at some point I used the word “campaign” and that set you off. You interrupted me and said that the word “campaign” would not be allowed or something to that effect and we started talking over each other. When it appeared that you were signaling the police officer to remove me (which did not happen), I asked the young lady who did the roll call if she was from the Clerk’s office because I was making a verbal open records request for a tape of the meeting. After that I did say that I would soon be a Council Member and we were off to the races again. To end the sorry spectacle that you created, I want to make the following crystal clear for future interactions with me or any speaker during Public Comments:
- The Chair does not have any right to censor a speaker who is not using profanity, common coded racist, rude, or lewd words.
- The Chair cannot have a person removed for wearing a t-shirt or holding a sign that does not impeded the seating or sight of others with the words: Vote, Campaign that does not include a specific candidate.
- The Chair does not have the right to interrupt any speaker who says, ” We are getting you out of those seats in November”.
I do not know where you got the idea that residents cannot tell you how they feel, and what they think in words that you believe are unflattering to you or the Council because the First Amendment of the United States Constitution says Hell yes we can! I will continue to respect you as the Chair as well as the Mayor but you need to get over yourself and follow the Council Rules that you should demand that we all follow.
Best Regards,
Earnestine D. Pittman
