Council_Minutes_1980_12_22 - Laserfiche WebLink

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'�'�:l�iO TO: 'In C(U \CIi, FRO:: '�!AY(. r '!CV ".;ia� 24, i geo ATTEMPT 'TU C EJS R 'TH13 ✓AYUR' S It is not disputed that Section 2.06 of the Home Rule Charter grants the mayor the right and the duty to "...deliver messages to the Council and the public... The key issues, then, are whether the mayor is required' by the Charter to communicate through the City Newsletter and whether the Council has the right to censor such communications. Section 12.13 of the Charter mandates that a newsletter be published by the City and Sections 7.05, 7.06, 7.10, 7.11, 10.03 11.06 designate the Newsletter as the means to convey information of general public concern and interest. Furthermore, in most instances the Newsletter is designated in place of or in addition to the official newspaper; thus the Charter clearly contemplates that not even a newspaper of general circulation is adequate publication for this type of information to say nothing of the monumental inadequacey of publication in council minutes. Officers of the Charter Commission have emphasized, as can also be inferred om a plain reading of Section 2.06 of the Charter, that the injunction to "deliver messages" is meant to provide an independant voice for the mayor in order to act, in part, as a check on a self interested council majority through the power of publicity. (It is also true that the 2- year'; term for mayor was retained by the Charter Commission in order to make the mayor especially accountable in his /her special duties.) From all of the foregoing it should oe oovious that the intent and the letter of the Charter can only oe realized by untampered access by the mayor to the Newsletter. Possible misinformation to the puolic has been offered as an excuse for an attempt to frustrate the Charter. The Council of course should be concerned about accuracy in everything that goes out in the Newsletter. However, the legitimate remedy for disagreement with a mayor is for the Council to put any disagreement in the same issue. The puolic would then have the oenefit of opposing points of view. It has been asserted that the Newsletter is a tool of the Council. This can certainly be a secondary function, but it should not be forgotten that the purpose established by the Charter is to convey particular kinds of information to the public, and that the Council cannot interfere with this central purpose.