City Attorney and Council leadership don’t want to follow the rules and let you speak . . . so they are making up their own.
From: Murphy, Brad
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 2:42 PM
To: ALL ALDERS; Soglin, Paul; Monks, Anne; Witzel-Behl, Maribeth; ‘White, William F (22246)’; Harvey L. Temkin; ‘Delorey, Kevin A.’; Miley, Sally; May, Michael; Noonan, Katherine; Firchow, Kevin
Subject: Tonight’s Council Meeting on St. Francis House: Items 3 and 4Alders, Others,
In consultation with the City Attorney, Council leadership has decided that the public hearings on agenda items 3 and 4 will be combined into one public hearing. Speakers will be allowed to speak for a total of five minutes at the combined hearing on Council Agenda items 3 and 4. Please plan accordingly.
First of all, nice of them to let the lobbyist’s know, but what is being done to inform the rest of the lowly public? And why is the decision to do this being done at the last minute and not when the agenda is prepared so the public would have a chance to prepare appropriately.
Second of all, there are rules – no ordinances – to follow. Why are they just ignoring them? And note, there is a provision to extend the time, not shorten it. Seems particularly strange when there are the extra-majority votes in play, where the council should be being extra careful to make sure they are making a good decision and allow all parties to speak – not just tho
