02-09-76 Council Meeting Minutes

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. - REGULAR-- ME.ET_I:NG,: NEW BUSINESS(CONTINUED) He said they had already told the council that the power of expulsion exists, and the implied power to discipline exists. He said it was his strong opinion with respect to any implied power under the home rule statute that you do not have the power to proceed further. He said it was his, somewhat hedged, opinion that you have the power to investigate if the objective is expulsioi However, that could be interpreted more than one way and it does indicate that you have the right to formulate your own rules in order to proceed to expel a member. One interpretation could be that you have the right to enact your own rules which would govern that specific case, or you have the right to formulate rules in anticipation of an offense that would merit expulsion. It is difficult to say what a court might do, because this has never been decided in an Indiana court. Vice. -- President Dombrowski returned the chair to Council President Parent. Council President Parent asked Mr. Brunner if there are implied powers when the council would set out to expel, why can't those same powers be applied to a low keyed investigation. Mr. Brunner said he thought they could be applied. The same powers can be applied, those powers are not implied however insofar as they must be promulgated pursuant to ordinance. He said that the actual power to address the problem exists, however, the actual power to address a specific incident occuring on January 19, in their opinion does not exist. He said if this was a continuing problem, then the council should formulate a policy whereby they can take action. He said that both Council Attorney and City Attorney are merely saying you cannot take action in this case. Councilman Adams, called for the question. Councilman Miller said he would withdraw his motion, and Councilman Dombrowski withdrew the second. Sale of City owned real estate - 524 S. Fellows Street. Council President Parent said he:was a little confused, he said that earlier they had considered one of these under a resolution, and now we are considering this property. Mr. Rollin Farrand, Director of the Board of Public Works, said that the first one had been before them in the same form as this one asking for authoriza- tion to sell, but we were not able to sell it in accordance with the ordinance, so we came back to you asking permission to sell. We have a request to purchase this parcel, which is a corner lot on Fellow. It has 166 frontage and is approximately 33 x 55. Assuming you give us permissio: to sell then the procedure is set by ordinance. We donot have a value because it has not been appraised and will not be appraised until we have your permission to sell, or a lapse of thirty days without action. Councilman Szymkowiak made a motion to authorize the sale of this piece of land, seconded by Councilman Dombrowski. The motion carried. Councilman Adams made a motion to ask the council attorneys to investigate how closely we should follow Roberts Rules in conducting our meetings, and perhaps interview a few municipalities close to us to see how they conduct their meetings. Council President Parent said there was no second, the motion is dead. Councilman Kopczynski said that caucus meetings should be conducted in an orderly manner using Roberts Rules of Order. He said he believed if you study the Municipal Code that is what it called for, and you as president, I request that you conduct yourself in such a manner that you run these meetings in such a way and all councilmen have the opportunity to speak whether it is a caucus meeting or public meeting. I do not think'.any one should be muzzeld at any time. He said he was looking forward to that type of behavior. Councilman Horvath said he did not know of anytime at a caucus meeting or at a public meeting, especially if you stick with the agenda you are not muzzled. He said that anyone that wants to talk has been allowed to talk. He said he would have to disagree with Councilman Kopczynski. Council President Parent said that this was about the umpteenth time he had been accused by Councilman Kopczynski of muzzling him. He said the meetings were taped and that he would like for the council to take a sample, or all of the tapes, and get this matter resolved once and for all. He said he had to run the meetings according to the rules. He said he thought these were serious charges, and they were usually brought out at public meetings. He said he usually did not say too much about these things, but in this case I am going to ask the council to look into the matter. He said we are not supposed to be conducting our business in this manner, and that did not want to be accused again. He said an ordinance will be submitted to allow the council to rule on such matters and enforce the rules. There being no further business to come before the council, unfinished or new, Councilman Taylor made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Adams. The motion carried, and the meeting adjourned at 9:50 p.m. ATTEST: .1 APPROV�� CITY CLERK ..D 'F-F-I-. +-h-E--I-'F. F- hl -.-h-h+-1--f--f- ............ ................. ....... F t..