City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: January 3, 2017 -1– ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________ The Organizational meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Tuesday, January 3, 2017, at the Union Train Station. Clerk of City Council, Nykesha D. Jackson, called the meeting to order at 12:00 p.m. 1. CALL TO ORDER: Clerk of City Council, Nykesha D. Jackson, called the meeting to order. 2. OATH OF OFFICE: Clerk of City Council, Nykesha D. Jackson, asked Council Members Cuthbert, Hill, and Smith-Lee if they have been sworn in. They all responded yes. 3. ROLL CALL: Present: Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Council Member Darrin Hill Council Member Samuel Parham Council Member Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr Council Member W. Howard Myers Council Member Annette Smith-Lee Council Member John Hart, Sr. Absent: None Present from City Administration: Interim City Manager Tom Tyrrell City Attorney Joseph E. Preston Clerk of Council Nykesha D. Jackson, CMC 4. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FOR/FROM THE MAYOR AND OTHER MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL: a. Election of Mayor by City Council Members Council Member Myers nominated Samuel Parham to be Mayor. Council Member Myers nominated Council Member Parham to be Mayor of the City of Petersburg. There was no discussion on the nomination, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call voting yes: Hill, Cuthbert, Parham and Myers; Voting No: Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith and Hart 17-R-01 A RESOLUTION APPOINTING SAMUEL PARHAM AS MAYOR OF THE CITY OF PETERSBURG. Mayor Parham stated, “Ms. Jackson may I have a moment to thank my council members who voted for me. Also at this time we have to work together to move the City forward. It’s time to set aside our differences that we have. We have big decisions ahead of us this coming year. And it’s time to start new. At this time I would like all of us to eliminate the partisan that we have going on between the Mayor and Vice Mayor. And I need all of you all to work together to come up with who will be the Vice Mayor of this council. At this time I will not be taking a vote against any member of this board because I work with anybody. Thank you.” Mayor Parham excused himself from the table. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: January 3, 2017 -2– ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________ b. Election of Mayor by City Council Members Council Member Wilson-Smith nominated John A. Hart, Sr. to be Vice Mayor. Council Member Wilson-Smith nominated Council Member Hart to be Vice Mayor of the City of Petersburg. There was no discussion on the nomination, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call voting yes: Smith-Lee, Hart, Hill, Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith and Myers; Absent: Parham 17-R-02 A RESOLUTION APPOINTING JOHN A. HART, SR. AS VICE MAYOR OF THE CITY OF PETERSBURG. c. Review and Adoption of City Council's Rules of Council and Procedure Council Member Cuthbert stated “I think it might be most efficient if we worked from my proposal and made changes from it. My proposal is in red line and I appreciate very much that the Clerk of Council has made copies in color and distributed them so that council can see the changes that I am proposing. Also I have received some feedback and I am very grateful for it. I sent a copy of my proposal to all members of council and to the City Attorney and the Acting City Manager for comments. I’m very grateful to the City Attorney for his comments and I adopted his comments and his comments are included in the redline version that City Council has in front of them. Also I have met with Councilwoman Treska Wilson- Smith. I very much appreciate her time and thoughts and input. She and I have agreed to make two changes to my proposal. I think they are good suggestions and I appreciate Mrs. Wilson-Smith input. And I like to bring those proposed changes to council’s attention so that council know what the proposal is. On page 3, section 5, I would like to restore the language to the way it read before I proposed changes. Just for the public sake, what we are talking about is the automatic termination time for meetings of City Council. I had proposed that we move it from midnight to 11p.m. because if the meeting go past 11p.m. I thought I was going to have to bring a sleeping bag because I thought it would be pretty rough to keep going. But Mrs. Wilson-Smith is made of tougher stuff than I am and asked me to put it back to 12 midnight. I think it would be a rare day that this makes any difference. But in any event it is easier to keep it the way it was then to make a change to it. And so I am proposing that section 5 on page 3 read as it read before I suggested any changes. And then toward the end on page 9 under order of business there is a paragraph under the public information period that addresses who is eligible to speak under the public information period. Currently that is in the 2016 Rules of Council. The speaker must be a resident of the City. Mrs. Wilson-Smith brought to my attention that often business owners have a legitimate interest in what goes on in City government. And that it consequently makes sense to increase that eligibility so that instead of just be a resident of the City you can be a business of the City. And I have adopted that. So the sentence in question would read ‘Each speaker shall be a resident of the City or own a business in the City of Petersburg. So with those two changes I move that City Council adopt the proposal that it has before it with respect to changes made to the Rules of Council that we used in 2016. That’s my motion.” Council Member Cuthbert made a motion to move that City Council adopt the proposal that it has before it with respect to changes made to the Rules of Council that we used in 2016. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wilson-Smith. Ms. Jackson stated “Before we call the roll can we have a discussion. I want to add one thing to it because the agenda is the way that my minutes are typed up and written. If possible with your motion can you add a number 18 to it to have adjournment? Because on the current minutes it has closed session right before adjournment. It’s not included on your copy. I can take the closed session off there but I need to add adjournment to it so that it will be the full agenda. If you concur.” Council Member Cuthbert stated “The acoustics are so bad in this room that I had a hard time hearing exactly what you are saying. Are we on page ten?” Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: January 3, 2017 -3– ____________________________________________________________ _______________________________ Ms. Jackson stated “Yes we are on page ten and we are adding to it to say adjournment. That is all. Because on the minutes there is a closed session before and your copy doesn’t have a closed session. But I would like for it to be put on there.” Council Member Cuthbert stated “I think that makes perfectly good sense. I would like to modify my motion to include Ms. Jackson good suggestion that there be a number 18 added on page 10 under the agenda. Our meetings will officially have an ending point.” There was discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call voting yes: Smith-Lee, Hart, Hill, Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Parham and Myers. 17-R-03 A RESOLUTION ADOPTING THE RULES OF COUNCIL, AS AMENDED. 5. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 12:16 p.m. ___________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor