I have a story in today’s newspaper about how City Council members might reconsider a vote taken last week to extend the city’s landfill contract with Houston-based Waste Management.
Mayor Bob Coble told me that’s something the council hasn’t done during his 20 years as mayor. So how could council members legally reverse themselves? That’s not clear. Section 2-53 of the city codes states:
“Except as otherwise required by state law or ordinance, all proceedings of the council shall be governed by Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, and the city attorney shall act as parliamentarian.”
I found a copy of Robert’s Rules of Order in The State’s library. Here’s what it says about reconsidering:
“When a question has been once adopted, rejected or suppressed, it cannot be again considered during that session, except by a motion to ‘reconsider the vote’ on that question. This motion can only be made by one who voted on the prevailing side, and on the day the vote was taken which it is proposed to reconsider, or on the next succeeding day.”
My reading of that rule means City Council can’t reconsider because a week has passed, missing the “next succeeding day.” But Robert’s rules also includes this note:
“When a motion to reconsider is entered on the minutes, it need not be called up by the mover till the next meeting, on a succeeding day. If he fails to call it up then, any one else can do so. But should there be no succeeding meeting, either adjourned or regular, within a month, then the effect of them motion to reconsider terminates with the adjournment of the meeting at which it was made, and any one can call it up at that meeting.”
It could be awhile before council sorts all of this out.
The only other time I have come across this is last year when the Richland County Council was voting on whether to place a referendum on the November 2008 ballot for a sales tax increase to pay for road improvements and public transportation. Council member Kit Smith, who was for the referendum, was absent from the meeting. It was obvious from the debate that council did not have the votes to approve the referendum with Councilwoman Smith absent. So when it came time to vote, Councilman Paul Livingston, who was for the referendum, voted to kill it.
Livingston knew Robert’s Rules of Order, and he knew only someone on the prevailing side could make a motion to reconsider. Livingston’s plan was to make a motion to reconsider at a later meeting, when Councilwoman Smith was present, and presumably overturn the council’s previous decision and approve the referendum.
It didn’t work.
The question is will it work for City Council?
Jim Hamilton Boulevard, which separates Owens Field Park from Owens Field Airport, is .6 miles of straight, flat road. Because of that, the Rosewood Community Council thought traffic was too fast for all of the children playing on t-ball and soccer fields.
Last week, nature photographer and U.S. Postal Service worker 
Adam Beam covers the City of Columbia for
Carter tells promoted police officers to build on the future
Columbia Police Chief Tandy Carter allowed family members to pin the badges on officers who were promoted.
Today, 11 Columbia Police Officers were promoted. The department held a ceremony on the front lawn of police department headquarters off of Washington Street.
The department has had a rough few years, with a cheating scandal and a scathing report from an independent review panel and inadequate staffing levels. With all of the bad press, the department lost a lot of officers and, until recently, had trouble hiring new officers. During his speech today, Chief Tandy Carter said two-thirds of the department’s officers were hired within the last four years.
That’s why these promotions are important, Carter said, because it helps to build a future for the department. During the ceremony, a handful of police recruits stood in the back. Carter pointed to them during his speech and told the officers who were being promoted that it was their job to keep those recruits motivated and keep them on the force.
Here’s a video of the swearing in:
Update, here are the officers who were promoted