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Council notes mayoral veto timeline; unions and residents urge quick resolution
Summary
Council staff said the budget remained pending at the mayor’s office and the council took no action on the mayor's veto message. Speakers from an engineers union and other residents urged the council to finalize the budget and lift uncertainty for city employees.
Council procedural staff informed members on June 6 that item 6 on the agenda was the mayor’s veto message and that the budget was still pending at the mayor’s office, meaning no open-session action would be taken at that time.
Council procedural instructions stated the listed time-limit dates on the agenda were not applicable while the mayoral review continued. Council members were advised that consideration of certain closed-session continuation items would require 10 votes for referral.
Several public commenters urged councilmembers to complete the budget process. Royce Samaan, president of the Engineers and Architects Association, which represents more than 6,000 city employees, told the council: "My members want to get back to work. We don't wanna be in limbo anymore wondering about, if our jobs will be secure in the coming weeks. We want the delicate Jenga tower that we've constructed in the budget this year to remain standing." Samaan encouraged the council to "land the plane" and finalize the budget so city employees could return to normal operations.
Other public speakers criticized council leadership over transparency, remote public comment access, and priorities in spending; some urged the mayor to veto the council's budget so the body could revisit priorities. The council did not take any final budget votes during the June 6 session while the mayoral review was pending.
The record shows the council took procedural votes on other items but deferred budget action pending the mayor's decision.
