Letting personal issues get in the way of governing. Speaking of abusing the rules, councillors have also made it an occasional game to torture each other with reminders of how the rules work, even if they don’t know or apply them inconsistently. While it’s embarrassing to watch Decker snipe at Kelley and ally with Maher go after Cheung, it’s bizarre to see Simmons insist Minka vanBeuzekom be literally in Sullivan Chamber to vote (a rule that seems to have been applied exactly once in the past term) or Decker attacking vanBeuzekom for using an aide to take notes at a committee meeting when a city clerk wasn’t available, despite testimony from the mayor, other councillors and the city clerk that it’s allowed and has precedent. By its members’ own admission, this council is incredibly dysfunctional.
It began with the election of a mayor, like in 2010 a situation that took two months to resolve. This time, though, it took 10 ballots to find an acceptable mayor in comparison with the six ballots it took in the last term. When there’s no mayor, there are no committees doing the detail work on initiatives that will go to the full council for votes.
Davis, in her role leading the council and School Committee, has shown in the way she runs meeting that she’s no stranger to letting the personal get in the way of the professional, so it’s no wonder she hasn’t been able to get her peers focused more on work and less on subjecting citizens to dramas that should be kept behind the scenes. It’s a toss-up whether that’s a bigger sin than the combination of voting before public comment, calling in police to a meeting or taking back a vote on net-zero energy use in Kendall Square. Which is a good segue to …
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Excellent article. I hope voters consider all these issues in November.