No need for City Council session tonight?

From the agenda for tonight’s meeting: To consider amendment or restatement of the Certificate of Incorporation for the Bristol Downtown Development Corporation, and to take any action as necessary.
At least one city councilor, Craig Minor, says there’s no need to take up this issue at a special City Council session that Mayor William Stortz scheduled for this evening.
“This was the (first) bogus issue that the Mayor tried to use to justify a special meeting on the eve of his departure from office. He must have forgotten that I was on the BDDC [Bristol Downtown Development Corp.] and therefore privy to the facts behind his imagined ‘emergency,’” Minor said in a note to me.
“The levels of bogosity to this meeting are Alighierian,” Minor said.
He sent along some emails that make the point.

At 12:43 PM 10/12/2007, [BDDC attorney] David Sheridan wrote:
Dear Board members,
I received that attached letter from Atty. Donoghue today that indicates the IRS will require action on amending the corporation's bylaws no later than November 8, 2007. Rather than hold a special meeting, I propose to add the matter to Monday night's agenda under new business.
Please let me know if you anticipate any problems with this approach. I will amend the Agenda accordingly.
David M. Sheridan

"Frank J. Johnson" [BDDC chairman] 10/12/2007 2:24 PM
Dave:
I have no problem with adding it to the agenda providing that all time issues are addressed (posting of meetings etc.)
I do have a question on the letter from Atty. Donoghue in that it states that changing the Articles of Incorporation requires consent of the "City of Bristol Counsel". Taken literally that would mean that Attorney Krawiecki would have to approve since he is counsel to the City of Bristol. If it is intended to mean the City of Bristol Council than we definitely have a time issue on our hands.
Frank

October 15, 2007
Chairman Johnson,
As I will report to the Board tonight, I have spoken with Atty. Donoghue and confirmed that the IRS deadline of 11/8/07 is not carved in stone. He can write to the IRS and ask for more time. I would suggest that it be extended to some time after the November Council meeting - I just need to confirm the date for that.
David M. Sheridan

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:54:12 -0400
Mayor:
As I recall the BDDC did in fact ask Atty Sheriden to request this extension at our meeting last week, since the City Council was not going to meet again until later in November.
- Craig

Mayor's Office 10/26/07 11:14 AM >>>
With the potential of not having a quorum for the October 31st Special City Council meeting, the Mayor would like to know everyone's availability for Thursday, November 1st for this meeting.
There is a critical issue on the agenda which needs to be addressed at this meeting which deals with the Amendment to the BDDC bylaws which needs to be mailed by November 8th to the IRS.
Please let me know as soon as you possibly can.
Thank you.
Mary S. [Mary Suchopar, the mayor’s secretary, who’s clearly just doing what Stortz told her to do here.]

The bottom line is that the BDDC apparently asked the attorney to seek an extension from the IRS mostly so there would be no need for a special City Council meeting before the regular November session. The mayor asked for one anyway, in part to deal with this issue.
Extra points for anyone who can define “Alighierian,” a word that doesn’t come up too often in casual conversation.

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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com