Tuesday's (4/7) City Commission meeting: public comment & Comm. Maier's odd reaction (responding to a message?)

Much to point out what happened during public comment at last Tuesday's City Commission meeting. The most important thing is we got some clarity on the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) regarding ideas for the beach. The meeting has been rescheduled to 6 p.m. in the Commission Chambers on Tuesday, April 28, 2015. It is open to the public but public comment will not be taken. This might or might not be the last meeting of the selection committee. If it is the selection committee will make a recommendation to the City Commission at a workshop at a yet to be determined date. Public comment will be taken at that workshop and the City Commission will not vote at that meeting. If any action is eventually taken, it would either have to be at one of the regular two monthly City Commission meetings or the City Commission could call for a special meeting.

Now, as to the comments made Tuesday night. People are still taking about the Dee McNamara incident and the fallout from it. At the 6:55 mark of the first video, there are two in this playlist, Tennant Davitian comes to the podium. She gets her facts terribly wrong. First she says that Mrs. McNamara "carelessly, mindlessly misspoke", but she says that she did so on Election Day. The incident, beyond the racist rants posted on Facebook and other places, actually occurred before the special meeting on March 16th, six days after the election and was reported by the Lake Worth Herald. You can about that here.

She referred to her neighborhood being "under siege" by the two peaceful protests that took place. The first one she said was on the 5th of May, which we haven't quite gotten to yet, and she said it was on Easter, which the first one was not. It was occurred on Saturday. She then said there was another one "the next day", which was actually on Monday: two days after the first protest. She said that the McNamaras had been good neighbors for 20 years and appeared distressed that undercover law enforcement were in her neighborhood observing the goings-on. You can hear the rest of what she says on the video, but clearly she was confused about the actual facts involved, which should surprise no one. She ends with the quote from the Bible which says, "Let he without sin cast the first stone."

The next speaker, Mark Parrilla, used the same verse from the Bible to begin his comment and said that if people subscribed to that we would have ended up supporting tyranny through the years by mentioning some notable historic figures. He vowed to continue these peaceful protests so that racist attitudes in the City are pointed out until there are no more. I encourage you to listen to his full remarks in the video. He starts at the 9:30 mark of the first video and ends at the 11:40 mark. Other speakers follow including former Commissioner John Szerdi and Tammy Pansa.

At the 16:20 mark of the first video the Commission begins offering their own responses. The Mayor begins with the news about the ITN on the beach meeting and continues with other remarks. At the 17:55 mark, importantly, Mayor Triolo states that it is her job to run the meetings. You will see why that is important later on. She further explains how meetings are to be run and will be run in the future. At the 20:20 mark she responds to Mr. Szerdi's comments about the impact that words have through different media and the effect that they have on people. Sometimes the effects can be substantial.

Vice-Mayor Maxwell comments next. After other issues he discusses and clarifies his remarks made at the previous City Commission meeting at the 24:10 mark of the first video in relation to people who supported the bond issue.

Commission Maier follows and responded to comments related to his putting the ITN item on the agenda at the last meeting. He said that his request wasn't done at the last minute from his end and that it was submitted prior to noon on the Friday before the meeting. He also goes on to say that long meetings are fine and that perhaps the city should have more of them. The first video ends and he continues his remarks on the second video. At the 1:45 mark, he talks about the "Dee McNamara situation."

Commissioner McVoy begins at the 2:50 mark of the second video. He begins by commenting that he wasn't aware that the ITN included the words "beach expansion" in its title. Please. And there is further clarification about the selection committee and the ITN process which Commissioner Amoroso responds to. Commissioner McVoy then says he has a few other items. He talks about the city's reputation in how it deals with the public and the perception the public has of the city, then he talks about the length of meetings. He notes that the city is more than just about "numbers" and that there are people that care. . . He then trails off and his body language shows he was finished speaking at the 9:45 mark of the second video.

Mayor Triolo then speaks and says everyone needs to their homework and be prepared for meetings so that the meeting can be run in an efficient manner.

When the camera view widens watch Commissioner Maier. He is looking intently at something on the upper left corner of his area on the dais. He reaches for it, then at the 10:55 mark, he visibly reacts to something as if he has received news or a message about something:

Maier is on the right; after inspecting a message of some sort he gets "cartoon eyes".

This is completely independent of what the Mayor is talking about at the time. It is soon after this that he puts up his hand to speak.

At the 11:53 mark, Maier interrupts the Mayor with a "Point of Information" per Robert's Rules of Order. This is what that means, along with another parliamentary term that it sometimes gets confused with:

Point of Information: Generally applies to information desired from the speaker: "I should like to ask the (speaker) a question."
Point of Order: Infraction of the rules, or improper decorum in speaking. Must be raised immediately after the error is made.

It turns out that this, I believe, is more of a Point of Order, as Commissioner Maier wondered if the Mayor interrupted Commissioner McVoy's comments, but if so, it should have been made immediately. He only made the point after, perhaps, being prodded by a third party (in the chambers?). Commissioner McVoy, following the lead, acts as if he may not have been finished.

You must watch the rest to the end. It doesn't last much longer as the Mayor quickly adjourned the meeting for a 10 minute break.