Informal votes taken by City Council during a series of committee meetings are allowed under state law, City Attorney Mike McMahan said Wednesday, but he would rather voting take place in the council’s regular meeting.
“There’s really nothing wrong in my mind,” he said. “But it would be better if it were in the business meeting.”
The council took three informal votes Tuesday, two during its Budget, Finance and Personnel Committee meeting and one during a Public Safety Committee meeting.
Council members usually do not take votes during committee meetings, instead deferring them to the regularly scheduled business meeting.
Carol Berz, chairwoman of the Budget, Finance and Personnel Committee, said it was perfectly legal to take the votes and that committees could do “anything they want as long as it is a public meeting.”
She said she used the consensus votes as a way to move the budget debates along and make sure council members, who make up the committee, agreed on certain items.
“It’s a way of corralling the cats through Kmart,” she said.
She said the consensus votes were nonbinding and were not used to make decisions, only to gain insight on opinions of council members.
“You use it as a tool to move the discussion forward,” she said.
THE VOTESThe Chattanooga City Council took three consensus votes Tuesday during committee meetings, voting to approve new Police Chief Bobby Dodd, not to revisit cuts to agencies in the city budget and not to raise the hotel/motel tax.
In the past, some council members had said they are not allowed to vote during committee meetings. Mr. McMahan said Wednesday he was not sure how, why or when council members decided to not take votes in committee meetings.
He said it seemed to be a self-imposed rule, but that’s OK with him.
“I’m glad they don’t,” he said.
Frank Gibson, executive director for the Tennessee Coalition of Open Government, agreed that the votes are allowed.
The only thing in state law that is frowned upon is secret ballots or if the vote comes from a meeting not publicized, he said. In the case of the City Council, Mr. Gibson said they seem to pass the sniff test.
“There’s no sunshine issue here,” he said. “It doesn’t sound illegal.”
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