A regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen was held Monday, December 23, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. in the
Aldermanic Chamber.
President Lori Wilshire presided; City Clerk Susan K. Lovering recorded.
Prayer was offered by City Clerk Susan K. Lovering; Alderman Ben Clemons led in the Pledge to the Flag.
President Wilshire
Before | ask the Clerk to take the roll, Alderwoman Shoshanna Kelly is participating by telephone
and under the terms of the State law that allows her to do that, she needs to explain why she can’t
attend, if she can hear us, and who she is with, if anyone.
Alderwoman Kelly stated the reason she could not attend, confirmed that she could hear the proceedings,
and stated who was present with her.
Alderwoman Kelly
Yes | am out of town, | am by myself and | can hear you.
President Wilshire
Acknowledged that those present could hear Alderwoman Kelly as well.
The roll call was taken with 15 members of the Board of Aldermen present. Alderwoman Kelly was not in
attendance but participated in the meeting via telecommunication.
Mayor James W. Donchess and Corporation Counsel Steven A. Bolton were also in attendance.
REMARKS BY THE MAYOR
Mayor Donchess
Well first it is two days short of Christmas and we have passed Hanukah so | wanted to wish everyone, all the
members of the Board of the Aldermen and their families and all of our citizens a Happy Holiday Season. City
Hall will, of course, be closed on Wednesday, and will be open the remainder of the week. Again, | hope
everybody has a wonderful Holiday Season.
| wanted to thank Alderman Tom Lopez today for holding the Vigil for the Homeless, which he has done a
number of years now. A group of people gathered out in front of City Hall including some of you to recognize
the struggle that those who are unfortunate in our community are going through and letting them know that
people are thinking about them and we are working on trying to make their lives better.
We've got a number of things on the Agenda tonight Madam President so | will try to be brief and | will address
my remarks to a couple of the things on the Agenda that | have reservations about which | have expressed in
the past to the Budget Committee in which for the reasons | will explain, | don’t think should be approved.
Those are two contracts that the Police Department has proposed that you approved. The first is one having to
do with civilian employees, lawyers, IT people and others; the other is the Uniformed Supervisors.
| view the Mayor’s job as one which involves looking at the fiscal health of the City and trying to propose
measures and make recommendations to you, the Board of Aldermen, who make ultimate financial decisions to
understand the budget, understand the numbers, look at the future, project where | think the budget and the
finances of the City are going and propose to you measures and steps which | think are in the best interest of
everyone, including our employees who work very hard and our taxpayers who also work very hard and have to
pay the bills. | think our job is to look at all of the City’s needs and take the big picture.
