quorum change, 6-20-07

Greetings all.
I just got back from the city commission meeting. The city fathers have decided to not go after making a change in their quorum, at least for now.
They are "tabling" the measure, meaning that they are putting it on the back-burner, and it could come up again at some point. Mayor Dottie Smith says she wants to research the matter a bit more before moving forward.
More research never hurt anything.

As a quick aside. There was a 4-1 vote on tabling the measure during the meeting tonight. I have covered the commission off and on for three years, and fairly regularly the last few months. Its the first non-unanimous vote I can recall. I was glad to see it happen.

Anyways, back to quorums. It will be in the paper in more detail tomorrow.
The deal is, currently two commissioners may not talk with each other about city business outside of a meeting. They want to change the definition of a quorum so they will not have this limitation.

Even as two commissioners, they do not have a quorum, so they would not be able to decide anything. They would only be able to talk if this change were made.

After the meeting I was standing outside talking with two commissioners. That was a violation. Perhaps because the media was there it wasn't, but if two commissioners walk out the door together after a meeting, they are technically in violation of the policy.

They cannot call each other and talk about city business.

There could be abuse, and that is a concern some people have. There could be some abuse to just about anything.
We also need to have some common sense in matters related to the city commission.

I do not see this as a big deal.

As I have said before, I have covered city commissions in several cities in three states. The local commission here is as open as any of them were.
When I first heard of this limitation, that two commissioners could not talk with each other, i did not believe it.

This issue is bound to come up again.

Stay tuned.

james