HAVERHILL — A city councilor can no longer stop his colleagues from taking up an issue not on that night's meeting agenda, such as acting on an emergency request for money or hearing a last-minute presentation.
The council voted 8-1 last night to change its rule that no item not on the agenda may be discussed without unanimous consent. From now on, an item may be considered at any time with the approval of two-thirds of the nine-member council.
The change is the result of Councilor James Donahue last week blocking a request by Mayor James Fiorentini to transfer money from one account to another to pay a company to clean stairwells at the Merrimack Street garage. The stairwells were covered with bird and bat droppings.
Fiorentini ended up getting the money from another account and the stairwells are scheduled to be cleaned today, the mayor's aide, Andrew Herlihy, said last night.
To get on the council's agenda, an item must be placed on it by 11 a.m. the Friday before a Tuesday night meeting.
Donahue was the lone dissenter on the rule change to allow discussion of items not on the agenda if there is a two-thirds vote. He appealed to the public several times in his comments against the rule change.
"I ask the citizens, is it good government to change the rules eight months into the term because a courtesy vote was not allowed on bird poop and a presentation by the mayor?" the first-term councilor said. "We should be critical of suspending the rules. We should follow the agenda. ... Years of accumulated bird poop is not a true emergency."
Also at the last meeting, Donahue blocked a suspension of the rules proposed by the mayor to update the council on some news regarding the city's plans to build a new downtown parking deck near the train station. Fiorentini had arranged for several people, including the project's architect, to attend the evening meeting.
Last night, several councilors said the council has always allowed the mayor or another councilor to be heard on a last-minute item out of respect for their colleagues.
Councilor Mary Ellen Daly O'Brien said councilors typically listen to items not on the agenda to gain an initial understanding of an issue and ask questions, not to take action.
"Suspending the rules isn't supposed to be confrontational," she said. "But recent events have upset the relationship and respect among city councilors and the mayor."
Councilor William Macek said he had no problem relaxing the council's rules because Robert's Rules of Order require only a two-thirds vote to hear an item not on the agenda. Robert's Rules are operational guidelines for meetings used by most public bodies.
Last month, the council voted 6-2 to censure Donahue for comments posted from his home computer under dozens of fake names championing his positions on policy matters and criticizing and insulting city officials.
