Fairchild and Turner-Sloss said they do not know why their peers are in such a big rush to make these changes.
“What’s preventing us from pulling the legislation, going back, correcting it in its entirety as team, and then coming back and bringing it forward,” Turner-Sloss said.
Dayton City Commissioner Matt Joseph said while he supports some of Turner-Sloss’ proposed changes modifications can be made at a later time.
“There is nothing keeping us from further amending,” the rules and procedures, he said.
Since the mid-2000s, the Dayton City Commission handbooks have spelled out expectations of commission members, said Torey Hollingsworth, director of the city commission office.
But rules and procedures were never formally adopted by the commission until 2018, Hollingsworth said, and the current commission met and discussed proposed updates during a work session last month.
The commission earlier this month pulled a resolution with some proposed rules and procedures that were controversial.
One section of the rules would have required commission members to get the support of at least two of their colleagues in order for the city’s law department to draft legislation.
Some people said this seemed like an attempt to limit the ability of Fairchild and Turner-Sloss to develop and advance ordinances.
Supporters said this was only meant to facilitate teamwork and collaboration .
The rules and procedures the commission recently approved include new and revised language related to emergency measures, meetings, executive sessions, confidential materials, conduct of commissioners and community members at meetings and plenty else.
At Wednesday’s commission meeting, Turner-Sloss said she wants to amend the rules and procedures to switch out some language and require that agendas and materials for commission work sessions be posted publicly a week before the meetings.
She said this would ensure members of the public are informed about what will be discussed during these sessions beforehand.
She also said she wants to modify the rules so that commission members have input in the hiring and firing of commission office staff.
Turner-Sloss also said she wants to remove language that states commission members should go the city manager’s office for many requests, instead of department heads.
She proposed striking language that said commissioners should not engage with city staff beneath department directors or deputy directors without the city manager’s prior agreement.
Turner-Sloss asked the commission to pull the resolution until members could have a deeper discussion.
Joseph said the commission went through the rules and regulations at its February retreat and have continued to work on them since that time, and it’s important to put them in place as soon as possible.
“Without these in place, the staff doesn’t have a good framework to work with,” he said.
Commissioner Chris Shaw said he also felt comfortable moving forward.
Shaw, Joseph and Mayor Jeffrey Mims voted against Turner-Sloss’ motion to pull the resolution. They then voted in favor of approving the rules.
During the meeting, Turner-Sloss said, “Let the record show for the public that we have colleagues who are unwilling to display transparency and collegiality.”
Commissioner Darryl Fairchild also said this process has been rushed and the existing rules would be perfectly fine for the time being, as they made some additional changes.
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