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2 — Wednesday, February 24, 2021
KATE HUA/Daily
Students walk around the Diag after another snowstorm in Ann Arbor Thursday afternoon.
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Ann Arbor City Council and public
react to proposed rules to limit time
New resolution aims to improve discourse and accessibility of meetings
JULIA FORREST
Daily Staff Reporter
In an effort to improve
discourse and ensure meetings
are accessible to the public,
the Ann Arbor City Council
introduced a new resolution
on Feb. 1 to amend Council
Rules to have Council meetings
end
earlier,
garnering
both
support and wariness from
councilmembers.
Since
the
council moved to conduct fully
remote meetings during the
COVID-19 pandemic, meetings
have often gone into the early
morning, sometimes past 1 a.m.
The resolution also aims
to limit negative interactions
between councilmembers.
On Feb. 1, City Council voted
to approve the resolution R-21-
047, a Resolution to Approve
Amendments to the Council
Rules. It was brought up for
a second time on Feb. 16 in
a motion to reconsider its
approval
after
issues
were
raised
about
the
resolution
potentially
infringing
on
free speech. The motion to
reconsider was approved.
The
resolution
entails
limiting
discussion
and
debate on agenda items by
reducing speaking times for
councilmembers
from
three
minutes
down
to
two.
An
amendment in the resolution
calls for councilmembers not to
“assail, question, or impugn the
integrity, character or motives
of another Member” in or
outside of council meetings.
Ann
Arbor
Mayor
Christopher Taylor would act as
the Presiding Officer over the
meeting and would ultimately
decide if a violation occurs.
If the mayor deems that a
violation occurred, he will give
the councilmember who was
spoken against two minutes
of speaking time to defend
themselves or say that the other
councilmember is out of order.
Councilmember Julie Grand,
D-Ward 3, spoke at the Feb.
1 meeting in support of the
resolution,
saying
that
the
resolution will give power to
councilmembers
to
defend
themselves
against
attacks
made on them without it taking
up their limited speaking time.
She has been on City Council
since 2014 and said she hopes
the resolution will help to
improve
councilmembers’
behavior.
“I believe the point of this
is not to use it frequently and
to actually keep us from going
down in a rabbit hole where
we’re defending one another,”
Grand said at the meeting. “It
really just gives that person, on
hopefully a very rare occasion,
the opportunity, if they have
been clearly attacked to step in
and get back in quickly to the
work that we’ve been doing.”
Councilmember Lisa Disch,
D-Ward 1, also spoke at the
Feb.
1
meeting
in
support
of
the
section
allowing
councilmembers
to
defend
themselves
against
attacks
that may imgun their integrity.
Disch has been a member of
City Council since Nov. 2020.
“This is not constraining
anyone’s
ability
to
express
their opinion,” Disch said. “It
is constraining their ability to
promulgate
negativity
about
this body and its individual
members.
And
because
statements
that
promulgate
negativity
about
the
body
and it’s members compromise
the dignity of this council, it
compromises trustin council.”
Councilmember
Elizabeth
Nelson, D-Ward 4, told The
Daily she does not think the
resolution would shorten the
meeting because the length is
based largely on the number
of
agenda
items,
not
each
individual speaking. She also
worried about issues not being
fully discussed and understood
by various councilmembers in
the interest of time.
“I’m concerned about the
idea that we want to reduce
speaking time and that the
suggestion is coming from new
councilmembers right out of
the gate,” Nelson said. “(They)
are
perhaps
less
informed
about some of these issues, and
I will say that when I first got
on council, I benefited hearing
from our colleagues who have
more experience than me.”
Councilmember
Jeff
Hayner, D-Ward 1, said he also
disapproves of the proposal
and told The Michigan Daily
he thinks the desire of new
councilmembers
to
limit
speaking time seems to be an
overstep.
“I didn’t see the need for the
rules,” Hayner said. “And the
rules were coming from a couple
of councilmembers who’ve only
been seated for a month and
a half and so I thought it was
a little presumptuous to start
changing the rules.”
Hayner said the new rule
would
reduce
the
amount
of time councilmembers are
present to hear the concerns of
their constituents.
“It’s not like you’re reducing
speaking
time,
what
you’re
reducing is my ability to speak
on behalf of the 25,000 people
I represent,” Hayner said. “I
feel like you’re taking away
from constituents your ability
to express your constituents’
concerns.”
Brandon Dimcheff, a resident
of Ward 4, spoke to The Daily
in support of the resolution.
He said he thinks the rule
should be adopted to limit
councilmembers from arguing
with one another.
“I feel like (the resolution)
shouldn’t be that controversial,”
Dimcheff said. “For me, I am
definitely
happy
that
(the
resolution is) happening. People
think it’s going to be weaponized
against something, but I don’t
see it. I think regardless of
the situation, they should stop
bickering at each other.”
Dimcheff also said he thinks
councilmembers’ time should
be time-limited to shorten the
total meeting times.
“I think that this process is
not intended to limit the scope
of
the
grievance
hearing,”
Dimcheff said. “I don’t think
anybody’s
First
Amendment
rights are getting trampled.”
Dimcheff said he believes
that the new rule would result
in
increased
information
density and quality of debate,
as each councilmember would
have to keep the information
they are sharing concise.
“If everyone comes prepared
for the meeting (it will be)
productive,”
Dimcheff
said.
“Everyone would get up to
speed individually and ask the
best questions.”
Daily Staff Reporter Julia
Forrest
can
be
reached
at
juforres@umich.edu.
ISAAC MANGOLD/Daily
Members of the Ann Arbor City Council are debating new rules to limit the length of meetings and to allow councilmembers to respond to direct verbal attacks.
ANN ARBOR