Left In Lowell

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May 26, 2008

Will CC follow their own rules?

by at 8:30 pm.

Tomorrow night’s City Council meeting has a full agenda. The “revised” ordinance on the Cultural Affairs office is facing a public hearing. I am assuming that this time CM Bernie Lynch has the 6 votes. But that is the last item that grabbed my attention; a motion by CC K. Broderick “Req. City Council adhere to the Council Rules.”

I am not sure which specific rules CC Broderick has in mind but anyone who has watched meetings of this CC meetings on a regular basis has noticed a general neglect of parliamentary procedures.

First, there is continuous request to “suspend the rules.” Why have a posted agenda when topics and issues are going to be raised without the public being informed in advance? If it’s not an emergency, then it can wait until the next meeting.

The Mayor/Chair is allowed to participate in discussion from the podium. He should step down and hand-over the gavel to the vice-mayor as is customary and proper.

And when has the agenda item Manager’s Response turned into a Q & A on any topic that may enter a CC member’s mind at that moment. If a CC has an issue, they need to file a motion so that the CM can provide them with the information they require; otherwise CC meetings will be turned into “gotcha” sessions.

One Response to “Will CC follow their own rules?”

  1. Eleanor Rigby Says:

    If CC Broderick filed this motion to prevent “suspension of the rules” then, as I understand the council rules, he did not actually need to do this.

    He may have filed the motion as a “shot across the bow” of CCs who continue to request suspension of the rules, especially going into the new CC schedule.

    Is this new schedule twice a month or every other week? I’m not clear on that.

    So, IMHO what Broderick did is ask his fellow CCs to not bring up last minute items outside the agenda, and force them to wait until the next CC meeting.

    As I understand the rules, when a request for suspension is made, including a request from the Mayor that he/she speak on an issue from the podium, a single councilor voting NO defeats the request with no debate/vote allowed.

    So, I think this is Broderick’s attempt to nicely warn other CCs that once the CC sessions go into the new schedule it might be harder for them to request, and be granted, suspension of the rules.

    Just my reading of the motion.

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