I’ve lived in Albany since arriving in California from the DC area in 2001, and I have to say that the local politics are every bit as fascinating as the inside the Beltway ones were… even more so, really, with a small business incorporated here, and two girls in school at Marin. I wish the new Mayor and Council luck, in these rather challenging times.

A practitioner of civil litigation, Mr Cheasty would be commenting on the law of defamation. In writing, it’s libel; if spoken, then slander. There are some defenses that may apply to any situation, but repeating in writing what someone else has said verbally, or vice-versa, is not in and of itself a defense.

An example might be saying: “I heard that X wrote that Y is a fat-head.” Putting aside some defenses that may apply, basically verbal repetition of the original writing (libel) converts to slander by the new speaker.

Likewise burying a slander/libel in the form of a grammatical construction again may not be a defense, as in: “While X says that Y is a fat-head, I’m just saying…”. There would be a question whether that construction alone can cleanse the second speaker. Not sure. But we live in a litigious society, so who knows.

Apart from the legal niceties, speaking at a city council meeting, writing on a website. one might first consider that all of the council members were elected, which means they had to put out their name on the ballot, raise funds (often their own money), appear in public, suffer the criticism of their opponents, sweat out getting enough votes, then once elected serve late into the night for meagre compensation.

As I was saying I did not call him names or berate him about past actions, I merely stated that I thought Councilmember Javandel should have the opportunity he has earned as a Councilmember.

I too congratulate Mayor Atkinson and Vice Mayor Wile and hope under their leadership we can bring our much divided community together.

Had the election of Mayor and Vice-Mayor been listed as two seperate action items then Councilmember Lieber would have been correct. She did not “hijack” any motion as Mr. Dann stated.

As to Councilmember Lieber’s alternative motion nominated Councilmember Atkinson and Councilmember Wile, he is correct that the alternate motion is voted on first. Aticle II of Roberts Rules of Order state that a secondary motion may be applied to any main motion, and when made they supersede the main motion and must be decided before the main motion can be acted upon.

As for Councilmember Lieber’s rude, arrogant and dictatorial behavior, I can only comment on what I have seen.
At the last council meeting I spoke in favor of Councilmember Javandel taking his turn as Mayor. I stated that all the councilmembers were qualified but that Councilmember Javandel had been passed over twice as Mayor. At this point during my comments then still Mayor Lieber began to shake his head at me. I can not think of a more rude or disrespectful way to treat a member of the public. I did not call him names

However, when I look to the pool bond oversight committee’s web page, I find that Peggy is on the committee, but the minutes from the October meeting are not there. I tis now mid-December. I feel that the bond oversight committee has not been keeping the public informed with respect to costs and to decisions relating to the facility’s configuration. Does anyone even know when they next meet???
http://ausd.ca.schoolloop.com/cms/page_view?d=x&piid=&vpid=1223961136973

I appreciate Peggy’s statements in support of open government. Now I would like to see Peggy do more to promote openness with respect to the pool bond measure.

Since the pool is owned by the school district but is also being used by the general public, I would like to see Peggy do more to create a cooperative effort between city government and the school district on this issue. She is on the council and she sits on the key committee.

So far I see the excellent statements; but I am not aware of any action to back these statements.

First, by terms of the City Charter Chapter II, the City Councilmembers “…newly constituted shall then elect one of its members as its presiding officer, who shall have the title of Mayor. The Council shall also designate one of its members as Vice-Mayor. … The officials so chosen shall hold their respective offices subject to the pleasure of the Council.”

Mayor Lieber in his role as the duly designated presiding officer, ie Mayor, opened the discussion to take nominations, but the honorable Councilmember Thomsen instead offered up a motion in an attempt to override the nominating process. Once hijacked, Mayor Lieber offered a “secondary” motion, for which Roberts Rules 8 provides as follows:

“Secondary Motions. To assist in the proper disposal of the question various subsidiary motions are used,… and for the time being the subsidiary motion replaces the resolution, or motion, and becomes the immediately pending question.”

So, Mr Lieber’s motion got voted on first: to elect Marge Atkinson as Mayor and Joanne Walsh as Vice Mayor. Them’s the rules! But really, in essence, the City Council can configure any way they wish to elect the Mayor.

The City Attorney Robert Zweben, an active member of the State Bar, officer of the court, and duly elected city official, is correct: the matter is left up to “the pleasure of the council.”

Secondly, a few speakers suggested that certain city councilmembers should be elevated because they received more votes in the most recent election. However, Ms Atkinson and Ms Wile were elected in the election two years prior! Not the most recent election. There’s no comparing them apples to those oranges.

Further, please direct your attention to the ballot for election of city councilmembers: it said this last time “choose three.” Not choose the Mayor and Vice Mayor or choose the first, then the second, then the third. There is no privilege assigned by the rank of most votes cast.

Conversely, a measure was on the ballot to directly elect the mayor, but the voters chose not to adopt it; thus, the mayor and vice-mayor remain elected by the City Council per the City Charter Chapter II. That’s the way the voters want it, apparently. (Which is another example of how some people shoot themselves in the foot when exercising their obsessive-compulsive demonization of a duly elected city councilmember.)

In conclusion, the elections are over. The voters have spoken. We have our new mayor and vice mayor properly elected. So, let’s move on and support our City Council in handling the tough issues that now face us.