NORWALK, Conn. – If a Norwalk Common Council member feels that another member is being disrespectful or repetitive in the future, he or she can flash two fingers and then three, and maybe that member will take the hint.
The revised Council rules, which reflect the updated 2010 Mason’s Rules, were adopted unanimously Tuesday by the Council, with one member throwing City Clerk Donna King under the bus in the process.
Council President Jerry Petrini (R-District D) began the discussion by saying that Council members had been wanting their own copy of Mason’s Rules for a long time, as the “pretty thick” manual governs everything.
“I don’t know who to blame or maybe no one is to blame, but most of this Council term is pretty much towards the end,” Councilman David Watts (D-District A) said. “I don’t know if was the city clerk, or whoever was responsible, but it was a travesty not having these Masons Rules provided to us. I don’t know how to explain it but it was definitely painful to get these made. They should have been provided first couple of weeks.”
Petrini, at the last Council meeting, mentioned Council Rule 23, which requires the mayor to give every Council member a chance to speak before giving any Council member a second bite at the apple, and prohibits repetitive or disrespectful speeches.
“We shouldn’t use the rules necessarily to shut down speech that we necessarily don’t like as long as no one is attacking anyone personally, and a person should be permitted to get their point across,” Watts said. “I will admit that I personally may have something that was brought to the attention, that I tend to maybe repeat myself. That’s something that I need to work on personally.”
The African-American community fought for the right to speak, Watts said.
“I will support the Council rules and maybe I can do better trying to stop myself and I won’t have to be gaveled,” Watts said. “I have to apologize for doing that because I don’t necessarily know that I’m doing that but it was brought to my attention and my wife says I do it so I do.”
Petrini said he couldn’t agree more about letting Council members speak.
“We are all elected up here, we all have that opportunity,” Petrini said. “I will be the first one to speak out against anybody having the right to speak. That being said when it comes to Rule 23 I would like to see that rule (applied) – I think we’re all going to all look at each other and flashing twos and threes.”
“I will admit it was a little frustrating trying to get our Mason’s, but I wouldn’t particularly lay it on one person,” Councilman Rich Bonenfant (R-At Large) said. “I’d say if the Council insisted and put our foot down we would have figured out how to get the money somehow out of the budget, but we had books in caucus rooms. Maybe that’s not good enough. I want my own copy too but I don’t think that we can necessarily point to any one person along the way.”
Majority Leader Doug Hempstead (R-At Large) attributed the problem to “lousy planning.”
“We have tried to rectify that,” he said, going on to explain that in an election year things need to be put into the budget. By the time the expenditure got approved there was some “drag time” and then it took two months for the books to arrive. “I don’t want to lay it on anybody, any staff or anything like that,” he said.
The rest of the meeting featured Watts deferring to other Council members on every item. Even when Councilwoman Eloisa Melendez (D-District A) had her hand up first, Watts demurred.
Lit Crawl not really a factor
“I am very uncomfortable with the way this was handled,” Councilman Bruce Kimmel (D-At Large) said during the discussion about the staircase planned for Martin Luther King Drive at Clay Street.
Kimmel asked why the item had been listed as a discussion item at the Public Works Committee meeting instead of an action item, when if it hadn’t gone to a vote at the following Council meeting the bid for the contract would have expired.
“Without the two-thirds vote, the project would have to be re-bid,” Kimmel explained in a follow up email. “That’s kind of like a temporary death. Also, I should not have been assigned at the last minute to the later session of the Lit Crawl. I was not comfortable with the whole thing. Three committee meetings for this type of item?”
Public Works Committee Chairman David McCarthy (R-District E) did the scheduling for the Lit Crawl. Kimmel said that the only people that he knew who had been rescheduled were himself and Jim Clark, who spoke in favor of the staircase at previous meetings.
Clark said in an email that he had asked to be rescheduled.
McCarthy, of course, does not talk to NancyOnNorwalk. He did reply to an inquiry sent by Republican Town Committee Chairman Pete Torrano on NoN’s behalf. Kimmel had been moved because there were too many reservations at Match for the time allotted, he said.
“Even if Mr. Kimmel was at the later venue a) I don’t imagine anyone held him at gunpoint and b) My understanding is that they were done well before the time at which we discussed this issue and he could have easily have made the meeting,” McCarthy wrote. And, “If I was attempting to somehow stall this, please tell me why I drove to Eloisa’s house and picked her up?”
True enough. Melendez said in a text message that Tuesday that she had no way to get out in the snow, but then relayed that McCarthy had offered to pick her up.
Watts said what?
If McCarthy tells you that Watts complimented him on his handling of the staircase issue, you might want to run to the kitchen – you’re going to need a grain of salt.
As part of the defense of the Public Works Committee meeting’s agenda, McCarthy wrote, “Even if all this was a nefarious plan, people do not install stairs in March and we were under zero time pressure. I had put it on the agenda to be a discussion and instructed Hal to have the language ready to act on if the questions were answered to OTHERS satisfaction. Given that the meeting was Eloisa, John I. and Jerry (and me) with all of them previously having supported it, I didn’t imagine there would be an issue if it really needed to move, and I had told Bruce that over the weekend. David Watts showed up as well, and also supported it, and complimented me on how well I had handled the entire issue.”
Watts comments partially addressed a suggestion from Redevelopment Agency Executive Director Tim Sheehan that projects should be brought to Council members early in the process, so that any questions or concerns could be allayed.
“Absolutely,” was McCarthy’s one word response.
Watts said, “I just want to say that Dave’s concerns were very valid and we shouldn’t be dismissive of them. If you end up being the (one vote against) I totally understand where you are coming from. I think that you answered the question, I think your statement is pretty profound that when these projects come forward it’s better to get us involved earlier rather than later. That right there really hit the nail, you hit it right on the head there’s not much more that I can say, I just want to say your concerns with the steps are valid. The people from that district, they actually want this in there district, we should definitely try to support them and support you on the things you have in (your district.) I just want to say that I am going to support this, not to discount anything that you are saying because those concerns are very, very valid.”
Cops with videos
The proposal to buy 35 Taser body-worn video cameras for Norwalk Police passed unanimously at Tuesday’s Council meeting. Councilman Travis Simms (D-District B) called this “a step in the right direction.” Councilwoman Phaedrel “Faye” Bowman (D-District B) called it a “great idea,” which, if coupled with diversity training, is “great for the city.”
Garfunkel appointed to city commission
Former town clerk Andy Garfunkel has been mentioned as a possible District A Council candidate, by Steve Serassis and others, but Garfunkel himself is not indicating that a run is imminent.
Garfunkel is, however, beefing up his resume.
On Tuesday, Garfunkel’s appointment to the Facilities Construction Commission was unanimously confirmed. Councilwoman Michelle Maggio (R-District C) and Watts said they couldn’t think of a better person for the job.
Garfunkel was also recently joined the Lockwood-Mathews Mansion Museum Board of Trustees.
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