City Council holds illegal meeting

City councilors met illegally Wednesday morning at a budget kickoff meeting that also included Bristol’s department heads and the city attorney.

At the 40-minute budget session, led by city Councilor Ken Cockayne in his role as acting mayor, the entire rest of the council also participated, even sitting in their customary spots in the council chambers on the first floor of City Hall.

The gathering was not posted by the city clerk’s office and no minutes were kept.

State law prohibits even a quorum of the council to meet to talk about public business without posting the session’s agenda at least 24 hours in advance. That was not done. See the whole story here.

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved. Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com

City considers allowing committee members to participate through internet

City councilors agreed recently to consider allowing municipal board members to participate in meetings without actually attending them.

First-term city Councilor David Mills said that more people would be able to participate if they could sometimes attend through web-based meeting programs or other electronic means.

“Maybe the pool could be increased” of possible board members if the city made the change, Mills said.

At the suggestion of an assistant city attorney, Edward Krawiecki, Jr, the council voted unanimously to have the Ordinance Committee explore the idea.

The city charter requires members and alternates of every board, commission or committee to “regularly attend meetings” and mandates they be thrown off if they miss 60 percent of the regular sessions during the year or if they skip three in a row.

It doesn't define what attendance means. State law doesn't appear to resolve the issue either, though it is clear that meetings can be held over the phone.

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Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com