The City Council’s Charter & Rules Committee had a full agenda this week, with City Councilor Kevin Jourdain proposing several motions that would streamline how the council functions when it votes, be as a full city council with all members present, or a quorum, or in committee.

As is law, the full City Council will decide whether to consider any motions from its respective committees that has found majority votes.

Speaking of majority votes: there are one set of rules for committees and another for City Council meetings.

Charter & Rules Chair Megan MaGrath-Smith said, “The first question effectively overturns that ordinance shift that was changed this term – that was my first ordinance meeting. And in the first ordinance meeting that was in this term, it was brought up that we had two forms of legal language. Did we want to have votes by the number of members present or by full members of the council ordinance debated, and then voted for of who’s present and said of the full membership.”

“So I’d like to hear thoughts around why we’re asking us to put in the charter an overturn of what the ordinance decided and which council approved, earlier this year.”

City Councilor Kevin Jourdain

Jourdain responded: “It’s a good question. The only thing I would add, if I might, Madam Chair, is one is the rules still say all the members. So if you go to our rule book, it today says that. And that’s always what it was. Then we had it in the ordinance to move us forward, as it says the word present. In doing the rewrite, it seemed to be since this is on council rules, section 13 is on council rules. It would be consistent with the council rules.”

City Hall governance was established in 1873, and as times have brought changes, so have laws and ordinances been called to adapt to the ever-evolving society. Here is a bit of Holyoke history.

Jourdain, also a lawyer, is known to comb through the ordinances and laws on the books that pertain to the city and commonwealth, and in this meeting, he presented several motions to have the city update ordinances.

City Councilor Linda Vacon also weighed in.

Charter & Rules Committee members, City Councilors Linda Vacon and Megan MaGrath-Smith, who is also the chair.

“So in the history of ever, and I will defer to the historian, to correct me if I misspeak. When we had and followed the rules without debate, an objection, it was always nine votes to pass an ordinance. It didn’t matter who was there, who wasn’t there, who had a conflict, who didn’t have a conflict. Nine votes. This happened for years, long before me. And since I’ve been here, there has been only one vote. The entire time I served on the city council that passed with eight votes and is considered to be a legal ordinance today, which I still disagree with because I think it was an illegal vote.

“It was a twisted and tortured interpretation of our rules, using the placement of a comma to change the interpretation of the rule that had stood unchallenged, untested for years. And not only that, it was a situation that involved conflicts of interest around the table. That is what led to the discussion at the ordinance meeting. The only reason it says those members present is that was the best compromise to get as close to the initial intent of the rules that we could come.

And I will note that it has been upheld that the City Council is the total purveyor of our rules. The law department doesn’t tell the City council what our rules are or what they’re not supposed to. But again, we get back to an earlier discussion in that regard, which I don’t want to go there, but that is how we ended up in that debate.

And since then, it has never happened that way again. There was never that interpretation made again. And here we are. So if you want to call this anything, I would say it’s just restoring the understanding that had been longstanding.”

The motion was approved and will now go to the full City Council next Tuesday for consideration.

Earlier in the meeting, Councilor Jourdain also had proposed changing the ordinance that governs the city’s Law Department, saying it could be a conflict of interest for the department to make its own rules without input from the mayor and city council. Assistant City Solicitor Michael Bissonnette responded, in part saying: “I just want to bring that to your attention and also remind you that this is an executive appointment, of someone who is in privileged conversations with the mayor and city on a daily basis. And for that reason, I suggest it should be left alone.”

The motion reads: “The city solicitor shall perform those all legal services in which the city is interested and attend to all proceedings at law or in equity to which the city is a party, and to all claims made to the city council. For these purposes he shall have sole charge of all such matters and proceedings. He shall give in writing his legal opinion upon any of the municipal affairs of the city, upon the request of the mayor or city council, and in addition shall give his opinion upon the law relating to municipal affairs in any department, upon request made by the head of such department.
TO:
The city solicitor shall perform those legal services in the city as the city council shall establish by ordinance. He or she shall give in writing their legal opinion upon any of the municipal affairs of the city, upon the request of the mayor or city council, and in addition shall give his opinion upon the law relating to municipal affairs in any department, upon request made by the head of such department.”

This conversation begins in the first 5 minutes of the meeting and continues for about 30 minutes.

The motion was approved.

The agenda and accompanying documents can be read here.

Also this week, the City Council held a special meeting on Monday in which they dispensed with  motions in under 15 minutes.

One of the motions was to approve the payment of $2,500 to the city’s Department of Public Works. That money pays for OSHA training for the employees.

Mary Monahan, interim director of the DPW, said the staff training continues.

“The city contracted with a consultant to do that OSHA training. And we actually have another grant in the wings right now for this year’s OSHA training,” she said.

OSHA is the acronym for the  Occupational Safety and Health Administration federal agency. It was established in 1970 by the Occupational Safety and Health Act to ensure that employers provide working conditions that are safe and healthy for their workers. OSHA achieves this by setting and enforcing safety and health standards, providing training, and offering outreach and assistance to employers.

The agenda for this meeting can be read here.

Upcoming Public Meetings