We were going through the video of the October 27th Asheville City Council meeting and noticed a couple of things about how votes get taken. On two of the votes – including a 4-3 rezoning – the final outcome was never clearly stated, so unless you were watching the screen you couldn’t tell how they went. And we couldn’t find a vote on the consent agenda at all.
Why we care: one of our core values is that every resident should be able to follow and take part in the work of local government, not just the people who can make it to City Hall. Plenty of people follow Council by listening to the stream or reading the transcript afterwards, and a vote you can only see on camera leaves them out.
The London Road vote
The 21 London Road rezoning was a show of hands, and this is how the vote went:
“All those in favor, please raise your hand. All those opposed, please raise your hand. Okay.”
Then one of the Council members had to ask “Was that 4-3?” It was 4-3, with Councilwomen Roney, Turner and Ullman voting no, but someone listening to the meeting wouldn’t know how the vote ended up. It’s described properly in the Action Agenda, the City’s written summary of the meeting, but most residents aren’t reading that. (Watch it on Sunshine Meetings or YouTube.)
Voice votes
Voice votes have the same problem on a smaller scale. Here’s the HIDTA grant:
“All those in favor… Aye. Any opposed? No.”
And the meeting moves on – nobody says it passed 6-1 or that Councilwoman Roney was the no vote. (Watch it on Sunshine Meetings or YouTube.)
All it would take is for the chair to say the result after each vote – “the motion carries 4-3, with Councilwomen Roney, Turner and Ullman opposed.” There’s a new City Clerk starting November 1, so now seems like a good time to start.
The consent agenda
There’s one other item from the meeting we want to flag for the public. At 19:39 there was a motion to adopt the consent agenda minus two items (B2 and J), it got a second, and then Council went to public comment. After public comment Council voted on Councilman Hess’s recusal, then B2, then J, and went straight into the BearWise presentation. We watched it through and couldn’t find a vote on the rest of the consent agenda, which included the $4.4 million Malvern Hills pool contract. The Action Agenda lists all of it as passing unanimously. (Watch it on Sunshine Meetings or YouTube.)
What we’ve asked for
We’ve written to Council and City staff asking them to announce every vote, and asked the Clerk’s office and the City Attorney to confirm whether the consent items were properly adopted. We’ll post an update when we hear back.
The full transcript is up on Sunshine Meetings if you want to read it yourself.