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Lowell council adopts rule to route formal requests through city manager after heated exchange with mayor
Summary
After extended debate over the mayor’s interactions with staff, the Lowell City Council voted July 9 to require that any formal requests for city business from council members or the mayor be submitted to and routed through the city manager.
The Lowell City Council voted on July 9 to direct that any formal requests for city business from council members or the mayor be routed through the city manager rather than delivered directly to individual staff, a procedural change council members said is intended to protect employees and ensure orderly responses.
Councilmember Chipwood (name spelled variably in the record) introduced the motion after council members discussed an email exchange and multiple complaints about the mayor’s direct contacts with staff. "The motion is to direct the manager to have his employees contact him with any requests from the mayor and that all responses run through the city manager and not the individual employees," a council proponent said during debate.
The mayor objected to what he called an attempt to censor or limit his ability to ask questions, defending his practice of asking staff for information and saying, "I have a right to ask questions" and that he would continue to seek information for citizens. Several council members said the change would not prevent informal or nonbusiness conversations but would require that official or formal information requests be made through the manager to allow staff time to respond.
Council supporters framed the motion as an interim step while they consult the city attorney about possible changes to ethics or conduct policy. After extended discussion and clarification from the attorney and the city manager about procedural limits, the council voted in favor of the motion by voice vote. The transcript records the vote as carried; no detailed roll-call tally appears in the meeting record.
Council members and the mayor discussed practical questions about the motion’s scope — for example, routine liaison communications and requests for minutes — and clarified that requests such as signing minutes or asking nontechnical, informal questions would still be handled but formal business requests should be routed through the manager. The motion directs the manager to implement the procedure.
The council later went into closed session to consult with the city attorney.
