Budget vote disheartening
To the editor:
The final Budget Hearing held this Wednesday was disheartening. The mayor and Council are governed by Rules as are the residents. The mayor is quick to find residents in violation of rules that have never been approved by the Council with their vote but rather simply made up by him at the time! Conversely there are specific rules that the Mayor and Council are obligated to follow and they do not. It is the responsibility of the mayor to ensure that all legally enacted rules/laws are followed.
At this meeting Mayor Burch allowed an absent Council member to vote by phone. I brought up that this was strictly prohibited in Robert Rules of Order i.e Rule #44 where is states in part “It is a fundamental principle of parliamentary law that the right to vote in limited to the members of an organization who are actually present at the time the vote is taken in a legal meeting. Exceptions to this rule must be expressly stated in the bylaws (City Charter).” It should be noted that the City Charter makes no allowance for absentee voting. At no time was there a vote to suspend the rules. It should be clearly noted that they would have had to vote to suspend their rules to allow this absent Councilmember to vote! In spite of this rule, Mayor Burch allowed this council member to vote over the telephone. This begs the question of the legality of the vote.
Mayor Burch speaks of rules about not being able to applaud anything (there is no such rule) yet he allows it when a rare speaker speaks glowingly of him yet at other times bangs his gavel at even the hint of applause he assumes to be for something he is against! If things keep going on like this he will surely wear a hole in the dais. He even went so far as to close down the meeting at one point because a few people applauded a speakers comment and he then proceeded to storm off the dais!
I have repeatedly encouraged the mayor and Council to read and learn the rules, which are contained in Resolution 66-05 which was adopted on Dec. 12, 2005 and have not been revised to date.
Mayor Burch’s treatment of District 4 Council candidate Chris Chulakes-Leetz went beyond the pale! Mr. Leetz was simply asking if Mayor Burch intended using his line item veto to cut the budget. Mayor Burch with the instigation of Councilmember Day called for Mr. Leetz to be removed from the room. Mayor Burch gave the impression that he was totally unaware of his right of line item veto and appeared upset that Mr. Leetz even brought it up.
Mayor Burch should take the time to read and familiarize himself with the provision in the City Charter giving him the right of line item veto.
If it is demanded that residents follow the rules whether real or made up then why doesn’t Mayor Burch insist that the Council follow the rules that they themselves are suppose to function under? My guess is that you have to first know the rules and he obviously does not.
Regrettably, it feels like when you enter Council Chambers these days that you are entering into another world where there are no laws and only those made up as needed to silence anyone that dares speaks out against an action they are considering. One lady even mentioned that she felt like she was in a meeting in Cuba! Shameful, simply shameful!
Lynn Rosko
Cape Coral