The recent trend of East Point City Council members walking out of meetings and not showing up for called meetings drew a rebuke from the mayor Monday night.
It also has left local citizens wondering what it will take to fix the problem.
The latest incident occurred March 3, when a majority of the council did not show up for a called meeting focusing on future projects to repair the city’s aging sewer system.
“We know that you don’t care. By not showing up, you are stealing time,” resident Jean Wilson said during Monday night’s council meeting.
The issue of discussing the remaining sewer projects was voted down as an addendum to Monday night’s meeting by Council members Lance Rhodes, Clyde Mitchell, Steve Bennett and Jackie Slaughter-Gibbons. The fifth member of the majority voting bloc on the council, Sharonda Hubbard, was not at the meeting.
Other issues also voted down Monday night for action included a discussion of high residential utility bills and the status of council task forces.
Slaughter-Gibbons defended her absence from the March 3 meeting. “There was nothing to vote on because the charter says issues have to go to a work session first,” she said Monday night.
The dispute first started Feb.14 when the “Gang of Five,” as dubbed by Mayor Earnestine Pittman, walked out of a work session meeting because the mayor was going to allow public comment at the session.
The issue of when public comment should take place has simmered since late last year. In October, the council passed Rhodes’ motion to move the public comment portion to work sessions and remove it from regular meetings. Pittman vetoed the motion, but the veto was deemed invalid because it had an incorrect date.
In November, public comments were restored to the regular meeting agenda after Rhodes said the switch was a one-month experiment. Public comments were not taken at work session meetings until Pittman approved them for the Feb 14 meeting.
As Monday’s meeting came to a close, Pittman blasted the stalling tactics of the majority.
“I’ve never missed a special called meeting. The charter says nothing about a work session. The residents are going to have to ultimately ask if they trust you,” she said.
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