On this weeks City Council Agenda we see the following 2 items listed:
2. Vote – Accept sections 21, 22 and 23 as provided in sec. 21(a) of MGL Chapter 32B, as amended. (Public Hearing continued from August 23, 2011)
3.Executive Session – To go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing matters relating to a City employee, as well as complaints and/or charges against the City employee
With the negative publicity that was generated the last time these two events were scheduled during the same meeting, here’s hoping the City Council learned a lesson and someone makes the motion to conduct the full City Council meeting including the public hearing before going into Executive Session.
There is no reason for the City Council to subject not only those who are in attendance but those who watch the meeting from home to a prolong period of elevator music and an empty chamber. They all talk about the importance of transparency in Gov’t and that should include the Tuesday Night Council meeting.
Executive Sessions while a necessity of Law should be placed as the last item and the citizens and viewers should come before a single employee or position.
On Tuesday night show the citizens of Lowell that Public participation, either live at the meeting or watching at home comes before private talk on city employees.
I agree with your sentiment that the public should be recognized for their participation and the meeting should not be fractured to prolong the wait and diminish the continuity of the process.
However, there may have been a valid reason where the Executive session at the prior meeting was inserted into the regular agenda, and that is a decision made in that executive session was brought to a vote in the following open segment – to accept the resignation of the City Clerk. Had that not been done at that time, the City may have been forced to pay his salary for another 3 weeks. But even with that requirement, the council could have waited until later in the agenda to split out into Executive session, although that may have inconveinenced some others who were waiting to participate in the executive session. A no-win position for the city council.
Joe,
It is my understanding that if the Council votes to go into Executive session during a regular scheduled meeting, they have to come back to the regular meeting before they adjourn so there is no reason they couldn’t have come back into the regular meeting at the end and voted to accept his resignation.
This isn’t a no win situation, they claimed they wanted to get the police back or out because they had been there since the su-committee meeting, they are paid employee’s they can wait or return. The public hearing and the public who view the meeting at home should be considered before that of a paid employee.
I’m pretty sure they can announce an adjournment from executive session prior to getting into one, but that is a minor point.
If indeed there are paid employees involved, then there may be a cost to keep them around for an extra hour or so if they had deferred the executive session.
Considering that the last executive session turned into a snooze fest for those of us watching at home, I would hope that they consider the viewing public ( This IS an election year ) and hold it at the end of the meeting. If there is a vote to be taken – they can do it then.