Board of Aldermen 3-24-2020 Page 17
Alderwoman Lu
Thank you, Madam President. | move to amend the motion.
President Wilshire
The attorney is saying you can’t. The Motion is to suspend the rules to allow for a second reading of
Ordinance 20-011. Further discussion on that.
Alderman Jette
| just wanted to, after hearing all of the discussion, | just want to remind my fellow Aldermen that the way
that we normally deal with Legislation is that is referred to a Committee and the Committee has a chance to
analyze it, discuss it, you know, people can come in, in this case either they could come in remotely or they
could communicate by e-mail and they could, you know, we could all learn, | mean the Committee could
explore what this is all about. | appreciate the Mayor’s explanation but you know | am sure that in the end
it will probably, you know, it sounds like it is a good move but | am concerned with our suspending the rules
and moving forward with this. Some people have suggested that if we suspended the rules, we could then
table it and then discuss it at the next meeting. But you know that’s the way we normally deal with this. Are
we going to have people coming in an explaining it to us at our next meeting? And how long is that going
to make the next meeting? It would be then hearing people talk about this and then voting on this on the
spot. The way we normally deal with things is the way | would prefer.
We do have time before the next meeting, we could schedule a meeting and it is unfortunate that Alderman
Caron can’t participate but she’s not the only member of that Committee if that’s where you send it. You
could also send it to a different Committee. But sending it to a Committee would allow us to learn more
about it, hear about it, discuss it and then when it comes, make a recommendation and then at the next
Board of Aldermen meeting we could then vote on it, you know, fully understanding what we are voting on
and fulfilling our role as Aldermen, which we owe to our constituents. | don’t feel comfortable; | don’t think
we should just vote on something based upon what the Mayor has told us tonight. | don’t doubt that what
he is saying is absolutely true, but | think | owe it to my constituents to review all of that, research it, you
know, talk to people and then vote on it based upon — | owe it to my constituents to look at this myself and
not just accept what the Mayor is saying. And the Mayor said there is no emergency that requires us to
suspend the rules tonight. We could go through the normal process and vote on it at our next Board of
Aldermen meeting. And tonight has shown us that we can do this remotely. We don’t have to endanger
ourselves or others by doing it the way that we normally do things, which | think is the correct way.
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
| am just realizing that this is a conversation that we’ve had in many meetings with the Board on this
process and | remember Director Kim was there and everything else. | just want to ask, is there some kind
of way, | don’t know, can we move, can | move the question, because at this point | believe that everybody
knows what they feel and what they want to do and rather than prolong this evening, we move it. Is that a
legit term here?
President Wilshire
Yes you can move the question.
Alderman Harriott-Gathright
Thank you, move the question.
MOTION BY ALDERMAN HARRIOTT-GATHRIGHT TO MOVE THE QUESTION
