“It is concerning that two members of the commission who are outside of the establishment are now faced with obstacles to prevent us from doing our job,” said Turner-Sloss, referring to herself and Commissioner Darryl Fairchild, who both plan to vote against the rule changes.
Dayton City Commission could vote Wednesday on proposed changes to the city commission’s rules of procedure and order.
One proposed rule change would require commission members who want the law department to draft final legislation to informally obtain the support of at least two other commission members — meaning at least three of the five commissioners.
The current rules, approved in 2018, require commissioners to informally obtain the support of just one other member of the public body, or two of five.
That support is non-binding and can be achieved from an informal poll of other members, city staff say.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
Dayton Mayor Jeffrey Mims Jr. said the commission has wanted to update its rules for a while, but the body waited until after the November election and Turner-Sloss subsequently taking office to move forward with proposed changes.
Mims said he’s “puzzled” because Turner-Sloss and Fairchild voted in favor of the language of the proposed rule change after considerable discussion during a recent commission retreat.
The vote during the retreat was an informal and nonbinding “straw poll” of members, city staff said.
Fairchild last week said he informally voted against the language, though city staff said their notes indicate otherwise. He has since said he thinks he did vote yes, but he was confused at the time and it was not a good process.
Mims said the proposed change is meant to try to avoid wasting limited staff resources on proposed legislation that has no chance of passing.
Draft legislation must be approved by the law department before it is put on the city commission calendar for consideration and possible approval.
While two commissioners are currently needed to get the law department to draft final legislation, at least three commission members — or a majority of the body — must support proposed legislation before it can be placed on the commission calendar, according to the 2018 rules.
The new proposed rule change is intended to “protect staff capacity” in writing final legislation, city staff said.
Also, the commission’s rules of procedure and order say the requirement “ensures that prepared legislation is likely to be successful.”
Fairchild said he thinks the proposed rule could violate Ohio’s open meetings act.
He said getting a majority of the commission to support legislation behind closed doors could betray the public’s trust in government.
“We run the risk of not being transparent and we run the risk of litigation,” Fairchild said. “I swore an oath to uphold the charter and the state Constitution — we all did that — and we have a duty to do what’s right.”
Credit: Ty Greenlees
Credit: Ty Greenlees
Fairchild has asked the city’s law department to explain to him why the proposed rules are permitted under Ohio’s Sunshine laws.
The Ohio Attorney General’s office says isolated one-on-one conversations about public business between members of public bodies do not violate open meetings law, as long as two members do not constitute a majority of a public body.
But public bodies cannot circumvent open meetings act laws by setting up back-to-back meetings involving less than a majority of its members where the same topic of business is discussed, the office says.
Fairchild also said he is concerned about the 2018 rule requiring three commission members to support legislation to get it placed on the commission calendar.
Commissioner Turner-Sloss also said she is worried that the new rules violate open meetings act requirements.
She said she doesn’t understand why there is a push to make these rule changes, and she questioned the timing.
The new commission rules are being considered less than three months after Turner-Sloss was sworn into her first term in office and Fairchild was sworn into his first full term.
Turner-Sloss said she was elected to develop and try to pass legislation and policies that benefit the community.
“Now we have these restraints on how we go about addressing the concerns of our residents,” she said.
Turner-Sloss and Fairchild both said they plan to vote against the rule changes, which are up for a second reading on Wednesday’s city commission agenda.
Asked for comment, Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph said, “We appreciate people’s concerns and we’re working to resolve this.”
Mims said the rule changes were discussed during a commission retreat Feb. 11-12, and that Commissioners Fairchild and Turner-Sloss voted in favor of the proposed language, which happened during an informal straw poll vote.
Mims said crafting legislation is very time-consuming and eats up limited staff resources, and it’s not a good idea for law department staff to spend large amounts of time researching and writing legislation that has no chance of passing.
Mims said he views the commission as a team, and he wishes Commissioners Fairchild and Turner-Sloss would have raised objections when the proposed language was being discussed.
He said he and his colleagues certainly would try to address strong objections from other commission members.
Fairchild at last week’s commission meeting asked city staff to correct the minutes from the commission retreat that indicated he voted for the proposed language about the development of legislation.
But since then Fairchild said he agrees he voted yes but was confused about which section of the language he was voting on.
Fairchild and Turner-Sloss won election in November, defeating a pair of candidates endorsed by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
Mayor Mims and Commissioners Joseph and Chris Shaw were endorsed by the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
Turner-Sloss was critical of city leadership on the campaign trail, and Fairchild, who campaigned with her, at times has butted heads with other city leaders and has cast dissenting votes.
Fairchild first won his seat in a special election on May 8, 2018, and he was sworn in about three weeks later, on May 30.
The city commission approved the original rules for the commission on May 16, 2018.
An online petition that more than 200 people have signed urges the city commission to vote against the ordinance containing the proposed rule changes.
“It is the understanding and belief of those who have signed this petition that when an official is elected to office, they have the ability to introduce legislation in the interest of those who elected them,” the petition states. “An attempt to disempower them from doing so is direct suppression of both our community and our democracy.”
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