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Council debates proclamation process after dispute over transgender visibility proclamation; members seek clearer tracking and signatures
Summary
A dispute over who read and how a proclamation was issued prompted a lengthy council discussion about transparency, signatures, voting records and whether proclamations should require a council sponsor. Council members directed staff to tighten editing and tracking and asked for options for public reporting of votes.
City Council members spent more than an hour on Wednesday debating how the city should handle ceremonial proclamations after a recent controversy over a proclamation related to transgender visibility.
The dispute began after a proclamation earlier this month drew public attention when the mayor yielded the reading to other council members; the disagreement escalated as citizens and media requested records about who voted to approve the proclamation. Council members differed about whether the mayor’s name should appear on proclamations, whether votes on proclamations should be tracked in the open record, and whether a council member should be required to sponsor a proclamation.
What staff told the council: City staff outlined the current process: proclamation requests are submitted to the mayor’s office; staff circulates a request for approval to council members by email; if a majority (four) approve, staff prepares the document and…
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