Bad Mayor!

Bad Mayor! Go sit in the corner until you apologize and can play fair with the other council members.

I’ve often poked fun at Danville Mayor Sherman Saunders for his snippiness at times during city council meetings. Now it’s time to get serious after his antics last night.

Last night, during a back and forth floor discussion about the bonus plan for city retirees, Buddy Rawley made it clear from the beginning that he was against the proposed plan. He had also made that clear in the non-televised council work sessions previously. It was clear that Sherman Saunders was getting perturbed at various council members going back and forth with debate points and rebuttals, but Saunders (as the board chairman) recognized each person and let them speak… until he decided to call on three more people then call for the vote. That left Buddy Rawley and Fred Shanks’ hands up to speak and the mayor simply shut them down. I could see that didn’t make Rawley pleased one bit.

After that, Council moved on to the electric rate increase. We’re nearing the one hour mark of the meeting and that’s standard for the what used to be amusing Sherman Saunders Snippiness. Fred Shanks had his hand up to speak his mind on the topic near the end of the discussion and Saunders calls for the vote again. That blocked Shanks from making his point.

So that happened, and we’re to the around-the-horn comment section. Usually, it’s happy fluffy nothing talk from all the council members and staff. Not this time. Buddy Rawley rightfully called Sherman Saunders out directly for his rude actions and said “I was elected by the people and I will speak for the people. When I have my hand up to speak, I expect to be heard.” Yowtch. The mayor went into a “this was my decision as the chairman of the meeting” type of defense of his actions, but Rawley would hear none of it. Fred Shanks was next to go and he criticized the mayor’s actions as well. By now, you could see that Saunders was getting upset.

Here’s the interesting thing that I found out while reading Robert’s Rules of Order…

…The right of members to debate and, make motions cannot be cut off by the chair’s putting a question to vote with such rapidity as to prevent the members getting the floor after the chair has inquired if the assembly is ready for the question. Even after the chair has announced the vote, if it is found that a member arose and addressed the chair with reasonable promptness after the chair asked, “Are you ready for the question?” he is then entitled to the floor, and the question is in exactly the same condition it was before it was put to vote. But if the chair gives ample opportunity for members to claim the floor before putting the question and they do not avail themselves of it, they cannot claim the right of debate after the voting has commenced.

If I’m reading this correctly, the chair (Mayor Sherman Saunders) does not have discretion in cutting off debate after X number of people have spoken. Only a 2/3 majority of members can impose rules like that on a floor debate. Hey, Clarke Whitfield, am I right?

I certainly hope that if this situation happens again, any affected member of the council will make a Point of Order and shut him down just like he attempts to shut down debate. Saunders wants all the back-and-forth arguing to take place at the non-televised work sessions and to have the televised regular meetings look like one big happy City Council family. To me, that’s horsecrap. The public deserves to hear and see every speaker and debate point.

Sherman Saunders owes Buddy Rawley, Fred Shanks and the citizens of Danville an apology for his actions at the last City Council meeting.