Pittsfield Council Nearing End Of Vice Presidency Debate
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It's been more than four months since a lengthy City Council debate about how to pick a vice president and still no resolution has been adopted.
On Tuesday, the council tabled a set of rule changes that include outlining that a vice president would be elected by the councilors during inauguration.
The vice president selection process had sparked a heated debate at the end of the year that included a charter objection and councilors petitioning for a special meeting. A temporary compromise was reached but the debate triggered a full review of the rules.
"I still don't like it. I don't like when we changed it and I don't like this even more," Councilor at Large Melissa Mazzeo said.
Mazzeo used the charter objection in the last meeting of the previous council's term to halt a decision on the matter. Former Councilor Jonathan Lothrop had proposed a rule change to choose a vice president by election instead of the council president appointing. Lothrop said the change was in line with the charter.
Mazzeo was a fierce opponent to the move, and ultimately invoked the rarely used objection. Days later, three councilors then petitioned to hold a special meeting to hold the vote. That petition went through legal reviews and Mazzeo, who was then president, ultimately called the meeting.
At the special meeting, the council adopted a hybrid model in which the elected president nominated a candidate for the vice presidency, who was later confirmed by the entire council. At inauguration in January, the council elected as president Peter Marchetti, who nominated John Krol for vice president.
For the next months, the Rules and Ordinance subcommittee sorted through the council's rules and made a number of recommendations to the full council. One of those included making the vice president an elected position by the council.
However, on Tuesday, there were still a number of language changes — such as making the document gender neutral — still incomplete. The council put off the vote again to make those changes. While Mazzeo still opposes the change to the vice president process, she said she will vote for the remaining changes.
The only other change that stuck out to some councilors was regarding public comment periods during subcommittees. The rules now call for public comment periods at all subcommittee meeting and include a sign in sheet.
"I have a little problem with having a sign-up sheet there for every single subcommittee. We give a lot of leeway here at the City Council because people can talk about anything. But, at a subcommittee you are there to talk about specific items," Ward 4 Councilor Christopher Connell said.
The rule does restrict comments at the subcommittee to items on the agenda whereas at the full council meeting, any topic may be addressed. Connell said he likes the format of the subcommittee as is, which focuses on singular topics and the chair controls public input.
The chair of the subcommittee does retain discretion but with a sign-up sheet and rules calling for a public comment session, Mazzeo said the operation was just made more formal.
Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Morandi said he felt the rule makes it a little too formal. He questioned what happens if someone is late and can't sign up.
"This is what government is all about, especially at the subcommittee level. We want to hear from the public," Morandi said.
In other business, Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood was granted an extension to submit the charter-required capital improvement plan. The plan has to be submitted to the council "at least 60 days" before the start of the next fiscal year. Kerwood asked for an extension because the plan would be the city's first so more time is needed this year to craft it.
"We felt we needed a little more time to put together the capital plan in accordance with the charter," Kerwood said.
The public hearing for both the capital plan and the budget is scheduled for June 13. He said the plan, template, format is all new but will become the baseline for future plans.
"I would rather have it done right than rushing in to meet a deadline," Krol said.
Tags: board officers, ordinance & rules , Pittsfield city council ,
