Herschlag: An Open And Transparent City Council, Really

On numerous occasions the mayor and members of the city council have touted how open and transparent their meetings are and how open and transparent the information is they are providing you.

Let’s look at three issues that belie their assertions. The city council’s consent agenda, city contracts and when the city administration takes a position and testifies on legislation in the State House.

Our city council uses the consent agenda under the pretense of disposing of routine and housekeeping items in order to speed up their meetings. But many times there are items in consent that should be discussed.

The most recent city council meeting consent agenda had appointments for the Redistricting Commission. To redraw Ward lines after the most recent census. Five of the eleven appointments are current members of the council and two additional members are former councilors. Will the councilors and mayor be manipulating Ward lines to keep them from having to run against another sitting councilor or will they redraw Ward lines that make the most sense geographically and to keep neighborhoods together.

Most frustrating is there isn’t even a reading of the items on the consent agenda. While the Planning Board takes a couple of minutes to read the items on their consent agenda, it appears the mayor feels even a cursory reading of the items on consent is too time consuming.

The only way an item on consent is discussed is if a member of the city council asks for the item to be pulled for discussion, at which time the item is placed at the bottom of the agenda. Councilors with concerns about a consent item are encouraged to talk to the city manager or city staff ahead of a city council meeting, to have their concerns addressed. Out of the view of the public. So you would never have the opportunity to know what their concerns were.

Financial reports, applications for grants all on consent. You want to know what is on the consent agenda, go look it up. Because the vast majority of the time, even if you’re in attendance or watching a council meeting on CTV, there will be no discussion of those items. In fact they won’t even be identified, except as a bulk item for the council to approve. Is that open government? Is that transparency?

Next up city contracts. There are a number of contracts the city enters into. Outside maintenance, construction, equipment leases and employment contracts to name some.

The administration does come to the city council to seek permission to enter into an agreement, but many times they do not return with the final agreement for approval. Shouldn’t the council have the final sign off before a contract is inked? Shouldn’t you have an opportunity to comment?

Employment contracts have a number of moving parts. Some of those parts I believe can be behind closed doors, while other parts should be open to the public. Let’s look at labor contracts for city employees. The initial negotiations between the unions and the city can occur behind closed doors. But once an agreement is reached, by both parties before the contract is approved, it should be made public. There should be time for the contract to be available for review and an opportunity for both the public and city council to comment in a public session, before voting.

What about the managers evaluation and employment contract. I agree that comments regarding his performance should be kept in his personal file. But there is no reason the criteria the manager is evaluated on shouldn’t be made public. And there is no reason that his employment contract shouldn’t be made available for review and comment. Both the public and council should be able to comment before his employment contract is voted on.

When the administration testifies before the State Legislature or takes a position on pending legislation, shouldn’t you know about it? When I brought this up at a council meeting, one councilor responded, if the administration had to take the time to let us know what legislation they supported or opposed, they would have to hire more staff and it would increase your taxes. Hogwash!

Here’s all that needs to occur for you to be aware of the Bills the administration is testifying on. A spreadsheet listing the Bill number, a brief explanation of the Bill and the position the city is taking. With that information you can go to the State’s website and read the full bill, who the sponsors are and the history of the bill.

It is hard to imagine that there isn’t already a record in city hall of Bills they have taken a position on. Provide the public and city council an opportunity to review it and and give city councilors and you the opportunity to discuss any concerns you or they have.

I won’t get into conflicts of interest and how it is like pulling teeth to have members of the city council not only follow the letter of the rule, but also its intent. I’ll save that for another day.

In the meantime, statements made by members of the city council that the city council is both open and transparent, has a long way to go to live up to their proclamations.