Holly Gilvary
RACINE — The Racine Executive Committee will meet Thursday to discuss multiple ordinances connected to six alders’ recent boycott of Common Council meetings.
This comes after the Oct. 1 council meeting failed to reach a two-thirds quorum as a result of six alders boycotting and two excused absences.
Items on the Executive Committee’s agenda include:
- An ordinance changing the procedure for communications brought to the council so that all communications would first go to the Common Council, which would then refer it to appropriate standing committees.
- An ordinance prohibiting city employees from being appointed to or serving on any city authority, board or commission.
- An ordinance requiring the Common Council to establish a calendar in June of each year for the proposal, consideration and passage of a budget for the ensuing year.
The ordinances were initially approved by the Committee of the Whole on Aug. 8.
Alders who boycotted the Oct. 1 Common Council meeting said the city’s failure to put these ordinances on the subsequent Common Council agenda for consideration was part of their reason for protesting.
Alders involved in the boycott include Melissa Kaprelian, Sandy Weidner, Renee Kelly, Henry Perez, Jeff Coe and Olivia Turquoise Davis.
In an interview with The Journal Times on Sept. 30, Committee of the Whole Chair Alder Terry McCarthy, who is not a member of the boycott, said communications approved by the Committee of the Whole usually go to the Common Council for final approval.
“The mayor has indicated this needs to go to a standing committee before it goes to (Common Council) … which has not been our practice in the past,” McCarthy said.
Kaprelian and Weidner said in a news release Wednesday that it is unusual that the ordinances are on the Executive Committee’s agenda.
The statement said that by protocol, the ordinances on Thursday’s Executive Committee agenda should be on the next Common Council agenda on Oct. 15.
They encouraged members of the public to attend both Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting and the Oct. 15 Common Council meeting.
“Your presence and engagement are vital in maintaining transparency and accountability in our local government,” the release said.
Mayor Cory Mason’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Mason and alders McCarthy, Sam Peete, Mollie Jones, Maurice Horton and Mary Land make up the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee meeting is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday in Room 303 of City Hall, 730 Washington Ave. The meeting does not allow public comment but is open for the public to attend.
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