Council President Wayne Matewsky doled out Committee assignments last week, with most everyone finding a place on a Committee.
Matewsky has said under his leadership this year there will be fewer Committees of the Whole and more Committee meetings. He said he would rely on the Committee system to work out the details of issues, and that would hopefully shorten Council meetings and bring about better legislation in a more timely manner.
He announced five committees for the coming legislative year, with a revived Celebrations Committee still under consideration.
The Budget Committee will be chaired by Councilor Michael McLaughlin and co-chaired by Councilor Anthony DiPierro. All councilors will be members of this committee.
An intense showdown between City Hall and the School Committee over the past week cooled off substantially Monday night when the City Council voted unanimously to put off voting on a Charter Change adding an 11th member to the School Committee.
It is said that oil and vinegar don’t mix, and at no time in the last year has the mixing of City Hall and the School Department been so much like those two substances in that they have found it hard to blend efforts. That has been made worse by quick actions taken by the City Council and Mayor Carlo DeMaria to adjust the membership of the School Committee without much consultation of the Committee itself. Under the Charter, such a vote to make those Charter Changes only lies with the Council.
The biggest news out of what was to be a very eventful City Council meeting on Monday night was the fact that it was over before it started.
Major technical issues once-again at ECTV prevented the Council from pulling off an online meeting, frustrating members of the Council who said they are at the mercy of the leadership of ECTV and tired of looking foolish as they try unsuccessfully time and again to have online meetings.
This comes as virtually every other board in the City – from the Retirement Board to the Planning Board to the School Committee – routinely hold online meetings successfully and have done so for months. At the Council, though, getting an online meeting going has been elusive.