Last night’s deflated City Council meeting was mindful of the groom who turned up for his wedding without his shoes.
Or his shirt.
Or the ring.
In polka-dot bermuda shorts.
His planning was as incomplete as City Hall’s.
By 9 o’clock, there were more red faces in Council Chambers than those of any other shade. Each Council member leaned to the person on his left and whispered, “Oops. Pass it on.”
After the city conducted a major advertising campaign to recruit dozens of prospects for six seats on the nine-months-in-the-planning Financial Advisory Committee, the excited applicants were invited to last night’s large Council selection party.
Within minutes, the brewing celebration collapsed into an embarrassing flat tire.
Ultimately, the Council decided to put the matter over for a month while staffers vetted the filings slightly more closely than they did the first time.
It Was Perfect Except for…
Seems that no one at City Hall remembered to apply the city’s by-laws to the respondents.
- Any applicants already holding a commission seat would be ineligible.
- Those seeking business seats on the committee must hold a current city business license.
“I don’t know what happened or how it happened,” said Mayor Andy Weissman. “None of the Council members caught it or called it to the attention of staff until late in the day.
“I will accept some responsibility. I should have looked at the by-laws while I was studying the candidates to remember No. 1 that it said, you can’t appoint anyone who (already) is an appointed official, and No. 2, business candidates need to be in good standing, having a business license.
“The staff report,” said Mr. Weissman, “did not identify who did or didn’t (hold a license).
“Some additional work needs to be done so we can be in position to make appoints the next time.”
It is not appropriate to discuss assessing blame, the mayor said. “I am not the kind of guy who is going to point fingers,” he said.
“It was an incomplete analysis. We have an opportunity to correct it, to complete the analysis and make choices based on full knowledge.”
Twelve of the 24 applicants stepped to the podium to introduce themselves – none expressing hard feelings about the washout.
Councilman Mehaul O’Leary was willing to wield the night’s most sensitive verb. “I am embarrassed – but for the applicants,” he said, alluding to their wasted evening. “I know the value of their time.”
Next time, said Councilmember Meghan Sahli-Wells, she hopes City Hall will sharply upgrade the application form, abandoning the “boilerplate” version that she indicated may have caused a measure of the confusion.
