While the local media have reported that Mayor Sue McCloud ("the City") will accept the Carmel Fire Belles check for Carmel Fire Station maintenance and improvements at the Forest Theater Guild's presentation of the film "Calendar Girls" on May 23 at the Forest Theater, in reality, Mayor McCloud does not have the legal authority to accept the monetary gift and will not have the legal authority to accept the gift until the City Council formally votes to accept the gift at a City Council meeting. And while Mary Pankonin, a Carmel Calendar Girl, does not "want to go over past history," Mayor McCloud's actions set disturbing precedents, including:
• A mayor speaking for a City Council when she does not have that legal authority.
• A mayor unilaterally acting against the advice of the City Attorney.
A de facto dictatorship made all the more palatable by a “pleasant and desired outcome?”
In closing, it is well worth remembering the City's Response to the Grand Jury Finding 7, as follows:
Finding 7: Over-control of this process by mayors is not in the public interest.
Response 7: The City generally agrees with this Finding; however, it is important to note that the purpose of public meetings is to do the business of the city and the public, in public...Mayors have only one vote on matters coming before the City Council,...The purpose of doing the public’s business in public is to assure that decisions being made by an elected or appointed body are visible to the public.
Signed by Mayor Sue McCloud
1 comment:
Naughty, naughty. So politically incorrect and so true. She must have a flat to negative sloping learning curve.
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