Reorienting City Council

It’s always nice to get feedback from people who couldn’t attend a Council meeting but caught it on FLTV. As you might imagine, we receive a lot of comments about our particular opinions. But whether people agree or disagree with a position on an issue, one thing comes across loud and clear: Genevans want the City Councilors to be professional, respectful, honest with one another and with the public. The issues that Geneva faces are not simple. Economic development, land use, deficits, just to name a few; the list is extensive and so is the required debate.

But for productive discussion to take place, there must be a commitment to professionalism on all sides of a given issue. At the last meeting, Councilor Capraro called for more professionalism in the conduct of executive session. (You can listen to an audio clip of his request here). He called attention to three issues:

• Legality—According to the Open Meetings Law, a motion to move into executive session must specify the particular issues to be discussed. Usually, a generic heading is used, such as ‘sale and lease of city property’ but the law requires that we identify *which* piece of property is being discussed. So, at the last meeting, the motion for executive session should have indicated “matters pertaining to Maryland Street (a paper street behind Virginia and Kirkwood) and the Cookery block.
• Accountability—This works in tandem with the issue of legality. If neither the Council nor the public are aware of issues to be discussed in executive session, there is no assurance that executive session will be *limited* to those legitimate topics. If executive session is ‘open-ended’ then topics might be discussed, if only briefly, that are not executive session material. And because there is no requirement that minutes be taken in executive session (unless there is a vote taken) the Council is, in theory, not accountable to the public for any discussion undertaken behind closed doors.
• Tone—Without an agenda or minutes, Executive Session can take on an air of Las Vegas, as in “what happens in the back room stays in the back room.” And the tension exhibited during the open portion of the meeting certainly carries over into the closed session. In fact, out of the public eye, any incentive to show restraint is lost. Having an agenda and sticking to it would ensure that Executive Sessions were not our local version of the “Fight Club.”

In response to Councilor Capraro’s comments, the City Manager has agreed to provide an executive session agenda prior to each meeting. This is a big step in the right direction. Transparent and professional conduct isn’t hard to achieve and it’s essential to good decision-making. We must remember that each councilperson is a representative, and if we are disrespectful to one another we are disrespectful to the people being represented.