5 member board of trustees (mayor is selected from the 5 trustees).

Mayor repeatedly oversteps his bounds by involving himself in day-to-day
operations of municipality, overruling department head's directives,
criticizing department head to employees, and more.

The other trustees would like to talk with the mayor privately about this,
rather than calling him out in an open meeting. They don't want to do it
individually, however. They are willing to do it in groups of 2.

But 2 other trustees + mayor = majority of the trustees.

I have advised them that this would be a violation of the OMA because the
mayor's behavior is business of the public body. I'd like to be wrong on
this, though - I hate to see this go down in public.

Do any of you have an opinion contrary to mine?

Thanks

Kim Spady

Kim,

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. When we've had this issue at one time or another, and no one wants to call out the offending councilor in public, you gotta be creative.

We put on a city council training where the training focused on the role of a council person (you can wrap it in whatever package works for you). We placed particular emphasis on NOT involving oneself in the day to day, etc. This way it calls out their behavior, without actually calling them out by name.

In our situation, it worked decently well. But if it fails and you end up having to turn it into a public spectacle, you've at least made a previous public appeal so that the councilors who are calling out the Mayor don't face the backlash themselves.

Roy

Roy D. Tucker
City Attorney
City of Muskogee
229 W. Okmulgee
Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401
(918) 684-6276
rtucker@muskogeeonline.org

From: Kim@spadylaw.com Kim@spadylaw.com
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2021 1:43 PM
To: 'OAMA Luistserv' oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Open Meetings Act & Trustee Behavior

5 member board of trustees (mayor is selected from the 5 trustees).

Mayor repeatedly oversteps his bounds by involving himself in day-to-day operations of municipality, overruling department head's directives, criticizing department head to employees, and more.

The other trustees would like to talk with the mayor privately about this, rather than calling him out in an open meeting. They don't want to do it individually, however. They are willing to do it in groups of 2.

But 2 other trustees + mayor = majority of the trustees.

I have advised them that this would be a violation of the OMA because the mayor's behavior is business of the public body. I'd like to be wrong on this, though - I hate to see this go down in public.

Do any of you have an opinion contrary to mine?

Thanks
Kim Spady

I agree.  David Weatherford may be able to help.  OMAG puts on training for Councilmembers.  If your town uses OMAG as its insurer you may even get a discount on insurance rates if all Councilmembers attend the training. And you can tell David to focus on particular issues.  We do it annually.

Jon Miller
City of Mustang

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From: Roy D. Tucker RTucker@muskogeeonline.org
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2021 3:33:59 PM
To: Kim@spadylaw.com Kim@spadylaw.com; 'OAMA Luistserv' oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Re: Open Meetings Act & Trustee Behavior

Kim,  Unfortunately, I think you are correct. When we’ve had this issue at one time or another, and no one wants to call out the offending councilor in public, you gotta be creative.  We p
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sophospsmartbannerend

Kim,

Unfortunately, I think you are correct. When we’ve had this issue at one time or another, and no one wants to call out the offending councilor in public, you gotta be creative.

We put on a city council training where the training focused on the role of a council person (you can wrap it in whatever package works for you). We placed particular emphasis on NOT involving oneself in the day to day, etc. This way it calls out their behavior, without actually calling them out by name.

In our situation, it worked decently well. But if it fails and you end up having to turn it into a public spectacle, you’ve at least made a previous public appeal so that the councilors who are calling out the Mayor don’t face the backlash themselves.

Roy

Roy D. Tucker

City Attorney

City of Muskogee

229 W. Okmulgee

Muskogee, Oklahoma 74401

(918) 684-6276

rtucker@muskogeeonline.org

From: Kim@spadylaw.com Kim@spadylaw.com
Sent: Friday, September 17, 2021 1:43 PM
To: 'OAMA Luistserv' oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Open Meetings Act & Trustee Behavior

5 member board of trustees (mayor is selected from the 5 trustees).

Mayor repeatedly oversteps his bounds by involving himself in day-to-day operations of municipality, overruling department head’s directives, criticizing department head to employees, and more.

The other trustees would like to talk with the mayor privately about this, rather than calling him out in an open meeting. They don’t want to do it individually, however. They are willing to do it in groups of 2.

But 2 other trustees + mayor = majority of the trustees.

I have advised them that this would be a violation of the OMA because the mayor’s behavior is business of the public body. I’d like to be wrong on this, though – I hate to see this go down in public.

Do any of you have an opinion contrary to mine?

Thanks

Kim Spady