No good deed goes unpunished. Last night, I tried to be “pro-business” and move reconsideration of a demolition permit. Silly me.
Last week at the plan commission we had three demolitions before us. I was troubled by the fact that the information we had before us in the written materials was not sufficient to find that we met our standards, so I asked the applicants to supplement the information through their oral presentations.
We approved two (one, two) of the demolitions and denied a third. By all accounts, despite my efforts to draw information out of the applicant, they just did a lousy job with their presentation and we couldn’t find that the standards for demolition had been met.
CONTROVERSY NUMBER ONE: Was a motion to reconsider in order?
I’d argue yes. Last June we passed a resolution saying that boards, committees and commission would follow MGO 2.21 and a motion for reconsideration could be made at the meeting where a decision was made or at the following meeting.
First off, the chair thought I needed to make a motion to recind because that is what is required in Robert’s Rules of Order, but our rules say that we follow Robert’s Rules of Order unless we pass something that addresses the issue and then we follow our own rules. That’s typical of many bodies. Since our rules indicate that a motion to “reconsider” is appropriate, that motion would be in order.
Second, at least one Assistant City Attorney and some staff think that the motion is out of order because it did not appear on the agenda. I can tell you that has not been the practice in the past. But with revolving City Attorney’s no decision is ever final. So I await an official decision from the top. Meanwhile, I requested the motion to reconsider in time for it to appear on the agenda, however, the staff did not amend the agenda. Should a member of the body’s efforts be thrwarted because a staff member doesn’t act on time? That doesn’t make sense.
CONTROVERSY NUMBER TWO: Just cuz someone made a lousy presentation, should they get a do over?
Well, I feel like I’m on a little shakier ground on that count, but here’s my argument.
A) The applicant could appeal our decision, go to the Common Council, do the presentation that they should have done in the first place and win the argument and get a 2/3 vote by the council, making the plan commission look like fools and giving the WSJ and all the critics a huge “I told you so” moment; or
B) The applicant could be forced to re-apply, pay an extra $500 and waste another 6 weeks.
I made the second argument at the plan commission, but not the first. I tried to be “pro-business” and not create unnecessary obstacles to getting a good decision. I’m not certain that the decision will be any different, but I’d like to be sure and have the correct information before us and know that we made a good decision and then have the applicant go through the motions in A) above and have a good defense of our actions. I think this is the right thing to do, lousy presentation notwithstanding.
The motion to reconsider barely passed 3 – 2. Stay tuned to find out if I was successful in my efforts or if the City Attorney finds that I was out of order . . .
Sigh. Nothing is easy.
