LAWRENCE — City Councilor Grisel Silva has brought all talks about the city's $80.1 million budget for next year to a halt because she said she was "embarrassed and totally disrespected" by City Planner Michael Sweeney last week.
The city faces a June 30 deadline to pass a budget or it faces a multimillion-dollar loss for every month the city is late, officials said. The city already faces possible layoffs in the budget year that starts July 1.
Silva sent an e-mail yesterday putting off all budget hearings "indefinitely" after the public spat between her and Sweeney at a meeting last Thursday. City Council President Patrick Blanchette has joined Silva in calling on Mayor Michael Sullivan to fire or sharply discipline Sweeney before the budget reviews could resume.
City Councilor David Abdoo witnessed the exchange and described it as a "breakdown in decorum that wasn't productive. I wouldn't assign blame to either one of them."
However, Silva putting a halt to the budget process because of the spat "slows down the process and jeopardizes the entire budget," Abdoo said.
Sullivan also was displeased, saying canceling the budget reviews ultimately hurts the citizens and taxpayers of Lawrence. But Sullivan said he would not take action against Sweeney and offered to sit in on the budget hearings and keep the peace for the remainder of the budget season.
Sweeney yesterday offered no apology for his remarks to Silva. He said "the focus of the council should be on the numbers, not me."
Reviewing the budget is a major City Council responsibility, he said.
"In essence, they are abandoning the duties they were sworn to uphold and they are also putting the city in a perilous position legally," he said. "They are sworn to run a city, not get involved in carrying out personal vendettas."
He described Silva's cancellation of the budget reviews as a warped form of political blackmail "asking for me to be disciplined or there will be no budget hearing. They will hold the entire city budget hostage?"
While extremely concerned, Mark Andrews, budget and finance director, said he was trying to remain upbeat yesterday.
Discord in the budget process is nothing new in Lawrence, but last year, after review of the first budget drafted under Andrews' leadership, the plan was adopted in an efficient, professional fashion.
"We just all need to keep moving and hopefully restart the review process as soon as we possibly can," Andrews said yesterday. "A lot of people have worked very hard to get this budget done in a positive way."
Last Thursday night, Frank McCann, public works director, was at the podium when Silva questioned the use of Veterans Memorial Stadium and where the budget was for the city's parking garages, both of which Sweeney oversees.
Sweeney, who was seated in the gallery of the City Council chambers, responded to Silva directly from the audience, to which Silva took umbrage.
"He said I was insane. ... That I was a disgrace and that I should resign," Silva said yesterday. "Everything was running smoothly until Mr. Sweeney's outburst."
Silva, Budget Committee chairwoman, left the council chambers and called police to have Sweeney "escorted" out of City Hall, she said.
Police Chief John Romero and Michael Driscoll, deputy police chief, were upstairs in the mayor's office watching the meeting on cable TV, and responded to the council chambers. However, neither officer found cause to remove Sweeney from City Hall, a public building, they said.
Budget Committee members then agreed to adjourn the meeting for the night.
Silva yesterday charged that the Police Department's lack of action and the mayor's failure to punish Sweeney both smack of bias and favoritism. She pointed to other department heads, including McCann, who Sullivan suspended in 2007, and Greg Arvanitis, a building inspector who was fired earlier this year for failure to conduct an inspection.
Sweeney, she said, "needs to be reprimanded like any other department head."
Blanchette agreed, calling Sweeney's behavior "insubordinate."
"We need to be assured ... that this behavior is going to end and our meetings will not be disrupted by his staff any longer ... I don't expect everyone to be friends but I do expect respectful decorum in the council chambers by all," he said.
The council meets tonight at 7 in the council chambers. It's unclear if the budget cancellations will be discussed.
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