Wilmington council votes against expanding public access to legislative business

Measures that would have improved public access to legislative business and expanded public comment opportunities were struck down by Wilmington City Council on Thursday.

The resolutions, brought before the public body by Councilmember Shane Darby, would have required draft legislation to accompany council and committee agenda items and added public comment following each legislative item during council meetings.

The two resolutions were swiftly defeated by council members, who expressed concern over burdening city staff with additional posting requirements and prompting lengthy meetings with added public comment.

“It’s just unfortunate that the community is looking to participate, they want to participate, and it’s very limited,” Darby said. “They try to go to the committee meetings to participate, but the legislation isn’t ready. It’s like, what are we asking for? How are we being efficient to make sure people can participate and we have additional public comment for them?”

The Wilmington legislative body has struggled to follow council rules and Open Meeting laws in the past.

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It was found in violation by the Delaware Department of Justice in 2019 after the council barred a city resident from speaking during public comment and then-Council President Hanifa Shabazz had the resident arrested. And earlier this year, the DOJ determined the council illegally picked new members in a secret vote and was forced to retake the vote publicly.

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Requiring draft legislation for agenda items

Darby sought to close a “loophole” in City Council rules, which doesn’t require legislation to be posted publicly with a meeting’s agenda, with Resolution #0353.

The measure failed 6-5, with council members Michelle Harlee and Chris Johnson absent.

Council members Zanthia Oliver, Vincent White, Bregetta Fields, Al Mills, Maria Cabrera and Latisha Bracy voted against the resolution while Darby, Yolanda McCoy, Nathan Field, James Spadola and Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo voted for it.

“I want transparency to the community so that they have time to digest and read and participate in our government,” Darby said. “We are actually the only government that allows for something like this to happen. You can’t go on a state level to a committee meeting that is posted and not have the legislation available. It is just unacceptable to me.”

Oliver pushed back on the resolution that she felt unfairly blamed council staff for the delays.

“This makes it seem like nothing is being done accordingly, and I think the staff does a good job so I am not going to be in favor of this,” she said.

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Other council members said they needed to figure out where the “bottleneck” in getting information was before changing council rules.

Darby said she specifically worked with council staff on the resolution, who helped her identify the problem within council rules.

“It’s not staff; they are just following the rules,” Darby said. “What I’m saying is there is a loophole in our rules.”

Adding public comment during legislative business

Darby also brought Resolution #0354 – first introduced by the late council member Linda Gray – which would have given the public an opportunity to comment on each legislative agenda item during regular council meetings.

The public previously had this opportunity, but council rule changes removed this comment period because meetings ran late and people would repeat themselves, Oliver said.

“People coming up and saying they are for or against an ordinance, that’s what the committee meetings are for,” she said. “That’s why we as a collective body did remove it because people want to get home to their families, staff is working all day and we are just in here real late.”

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Many other council members concurred, noting that residents already can comment during committee meetings and at the beginning of council meetings, and can connect with members in other ways, like via phone or email.

“I think there is ample opportunity for public comment,” Councilmember James Spadola said. “This could make it harder for the public to engage if every ordinance is a 45-minute debate when it could have been 10 minutes otherwise.”

The measure failed 9-2 with Darby and Congo the only members in favor of the resolution.

“I believe the meetings are long because of council members. I don’t believe the public makes the council meetings long at all, or the committee meetings,” Congo said. “It’s funny how we kind of pick and choose when we say debate is only for committee, when we come here and we debate pretty much every piece of legislation, but we won’t allow the public to do the same.”

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This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Why Wilmington City Council voted no to expanded public access