Davenport City Commission to hold special meeting on Fire Lieutenant eligibility after open-meetings guidance

The Davenport City Commission received legal guidance that it could not consider or receive public comment on a request to review qualifications for a Fire Lieutenant during the current meeting because the item was not on the agenda and would require advance public notice under open-meetings law. The commission agreed to schedule a special meeting to allow formal consideration and public comment before scheduled testing at the end of the month.

“...there's been a request to look at the qualifications of, a particular, I think it's Fire Lieutenant position, because that is not an agenda item today, and open meetings laws prohibit discussion of items of that nature without 24 hour notice to the greater public,” said Attorney Hough, the commission’s legal counsel, explaining procedural limits on discussion and public comment. He advised the commission on options: add a standing "public with business" agenda item for future meetings or direct staff to schedule a special meeting with the Fire Lieutenant matter as the sole item.

Attorney Hough outlined the practical steps: “...if the commission wishes to take up, and entertain possibly changing the qualifications for the lieutenant or making an exception to the qualifications, you would need to direct staff to likely set a special meeting to discuss that and place that as the sole item on the agenda to allow for both the notice requirement and the ability for members of the public to speak on that item.” Commissioners discussed timing and urgency; one commissioner noted the testing is scheduled at the end of the month and said a special meeting was preferred to permit consideration before testing. The chair said staff would reach out to set availability and schedule a public special meeting.

Commissioners discussed two procedural alternatives for future handling of similar requests: adding a standing “public with business” agenda item to allow members of the public to raise items not otherwise on the agenda (informational only, with no immediate council deliberation), or creating a submission process through the clerk to place public requests on future agendas with required notice. Attorney Hough said public-with-business time typically allows informational presentations without back-and-forth; formal discussion requires placing the matter on the agenda.

The commission did not take substantive action on the Fire Lieutenant qualifications at this meeting. Instead, the commission directed staff to schedule a special public meeting to consider the matter; staff indicated they would contact commissioners and interested parties about availability and timing.