Left In Lowell

Two weeks ago during the regular scheduled City Council meeting, the Councilor did a bit of self-analysis. Here is a short clip of the exchange between CC B. Caulfield and Mayor J. Millinazzo regarding the issue:

So, should a CC member express his/her opinion on an issue prior to a “public hearing”?

This was the issue that triggered the discussion and concluded with the CC asking the City Solicitor for an interpretation of this Council “rule.” But it is common sense that if you are going to deliberate on a topic and you are requesting the public’s input, you should have an open mind but it should not be an empty mind.

I assume that once the City Solicitor issues her opinion, the matter will be moved to the Rules Sub-Committee for further discussion and the CC can define a set of rules they can all understand, accept and follow.

At the end of the day, the problem is not that one has an opinion; the real problem is that one discusses the issue publicly outside of the hearing. The discussion is then moved to the pages of the newspaper, the radio airwaves, local access TV and blogs and the narrative is constructed more often than not incomplete and inaccurate facts.