by: Diane Benjamin
Last November the Bloomington City Council held a 2 day retreat that included an Executive Session – a SECRET MEETING for discussing very specific items that shouldn’t be discussed in public. I want to stress SPECIFIC items. The list of legal discussion items are in this story: http://blnnews.com/2013/12/21/renners-rant/
I’ve written about this Secret meeting numerous times because Alderwoman Stearns walked out after declaring the meeting illegal. She stated she was going to file a complaint with the Attorney General, and since nobody attempted to talk to her after the meeting about the incident, she felt she had no choice but to file. You can review my previous stories below:
http://blnnews.com/2013/12/19/bloomington-hit-with-another-open-meetings-act-investigation/
http://blnnews.com/2013/12/20/mayor-formerly-transparent-renner-sinks-himself/
Now for what is new:
At the last City Council Meeting, buried in an addendum to the consent agenda, was the approval for release of the Executive Session minutes from the retreat. In the past, the Council usually votes not to release minutes. Secret is secret, aldermen don’t want you to know what they say behind closed doors. So why were these released? Although the Attorney General’s office still hasn’t ruled, I believe they were waiting for Mayor Renner to release these minutes. Regardless of the reason, they PROVE Alderwoman Stearns was correct. They also prove why 7 members of the Council don’t represent the people, they are only on the Council to approve whatever is brought to them (think 3 tax increases). This section is from Renner: (page 4)
The City Mayor is threatening the Council! They “need to have the City Manager’s back”? “He would not let that happen”?
Who do the Aldermen work for Mayor? David Hales? You? The citizens of Bloomington think the Aldermen represent them. Obviously you don’t Professor Tyranny! Obviously most of the Council doesn’t understand the PEOPLE elected them, not you or Hales.
The purpose of this retreat was not to set priorities. It was to set the Council up for the massive budget increase David Hales would propose in a few months. Renner wanted it made clear the Council would pass it without question – including the 17 new hires and flamingos.
You can read the minutes here: 11-15-13 Closed Meeting Minutes
Renner’s statement is on page 4, Alderwoman Stearns walks out shortly thereafter.
Imagine you are an elected representative of the people. You are sitting in a secret meeting, supposedly being run in compliance with the law. For 15 minutes David Hales drags on about culture change-never saying exactly what that meant. Then the Mayor tells you to COMPLY or else. He tells you the Council must be united, in other words, whatever opinions you have are immaterial and you can not express them in public. The 7 potted plants just sat there. Alderman Lower said he would walk out too if they didn’t start talking about specific employees – per the law.
If you took your position seriously, would you just sit there?
Much more on this tomorrow!
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