By Ed Reynolds
The sabre of discontent once brandished by former Councilor Jimmy Blake has been passed to the Birmingham City Councilor Joel Montgomery. The new councilor’s contentious manner recalls meetings past when Blake relentlessly confronted former Council President William Bell about parliamentary procedure.Attempts to maintain orderly council meetings are nothing new to Birmingham politics. There may be more love on the council dais than ever before, but one antagonistic aspect remains: interruptions and objections to councilors speaking out of turn and for too long continue to spark heated debate. At the February 5 council meeting, Councilor Montgomery sought to establish official procedure with a resolution limiting how long councilors can speak to an item. The resolution referenced how the council president should run meetings; the ensuing debate predictably divided the council along previously drawn loyalty lines. Opponents condemned the resolution as being “too personal” for directing the president on such procedures as flagging a councilor for being out of order. Council President Loder was adamant that he has been fair in conducting meetings, arguing that no one will tell him how to run the show. “That is my statutory right, to govern the meetings as the chair and to make judgements whether a person should be called out of order immediately or not,” contended Loder.
Councilor Carol Reynolds called the spirit of the resolution “somewhat mean.” In the council chambers, Elias Hendricks agreed with Reynolds that the resolution is “mean-spirited,” explaining, “You don’t legislate good manners. You don’t have to pass a resolution to get me to act right!” Reynolds uttered a loud “Amen” as she noted that the Mayor-Council Act sufficiently addresses meeting protocol. “We don’t need to go and micro-manage every aspect of government,” said Reynolds.
Councilor Montgomery repeated that he was not going after Loder. He said the resolution does not mention Loder’s name; rather, the term “council president” in the resolution is generic. “When you disrespect me, when you talk while I’m talking, this is not personal with me . . . you’re disrespecting the people of my district.”
When all was said and done, only Gwen Sykes and Valerie Abbott supported Montgomery’s resolution. Earlier, the three had bonded on the day the present council was sworn in, backing Sykes in an attempt to derail Loder’s imminent election as council president. Montgomery is clearly not pleased. “Everybody alright?” Loder asks his colleagues as he always does after a vote that divides the Council.
Volatility between Reynolds and Montgomery had come to the surface a day earlier during a council Committee of the Whole meeting [a meeting conducted with a council quorum, outside the council chambers, for intimate debate but still open to the public]. During that meeting, Councilor Hendricks introduced a list of complaints about parliamentary procedure, including cutting off members of the public when they stray from the topic at hand while addressing the Council. He also urged a fairness policy that would force councilors to adhere to time limits when speaking to an item. Councilor Montgomery agreed with Hendricks. “This is a legislative body. We have to do taxpayers’ business,” Montgomery said. He griped about “slander” from Birmingham residents that only want to “rave at me, then rave at Judge [Councilor] Smitherman, or rave at the Mayor on something that has nothing to do with any business whatsoever pertaining to what we’re here for. It shouldn’t be allowed.” Councilor Carol Reynolds immediately disagreed, taking the side of the public, “It’s their constitutional right.”
Montgomery continued, ignoring Reynolds as he complained that a legislative body is not the appropriate place for people to address issues that do not concern city business. “This is a company, folks. This is where we conduct the people’s business.” Montgomery added, “I know of no other legislative body on this planet that allows this kind of stuff to go on.” Reynolds objected that Montgomery had used his allotted 10 minutes. “I find it very offensive,” she said, bolting from the room in apparent anger. Montgomery resumed talking, noting that he hoped Reynolds would not interrupt him again, setting the stage for the next day’s showdown.
Committee battles continue to spark tempers
Entering the second quarter of its first year as virtually a new legislative body, the Birmingham City Council remains plagued by internal squabbles over committee assignments. Insiders at City Hall have reported general confusion within the council ranks regarding day-to-day administration of duties, which comes as no surprise considering that eight of the nine council members are serving first terms. Council President Loder is the lone incumbent, handling the administrative reins with dexterity after deflecting an early attempt by Councilor Sykes to wrestle the presidency from him.
As the poster child for council rebellion from the outset, Sykes remains mired in controversy. Speculation lingers as to whether Sykes was acting independently in her lunge for power, or whether she was simply being inundated with outside advice from someone once intimately familiar with council power plays. Occasional outbursts of anger at committee and precouncil meetings and a penchant for tardiness have colored her record three months into her term.
Sykes initially was asked to chair the Public Safety Committee, which she claims to have embraced with vigor. Sykes said she has devoted more time to public safety issues than education, the committee she coveted from the beginning and eventually was given after the state Ethics Commission concluded that her job as assistant principal at Green Acres Middle School did not give an appearance of conflict of interest. Sykes even went on record at the January 29 council meeting saying that the Education Committee had really not done much in the past except “make some appointments.” [The past two Education Committee chairs were Loder and Mayor Kincaid when he served on the Council.]
After being named head of the Education Committee, Sykes found herself chairing two committees, prompting protest from various councilors. Council President Loder’s solution was to combine Public Safety and Education, but some objected that the two were not a natural fit. At a February 3 Committee of the Whole meeting, final resolution was sought on committee assignments. Elimination of the Public Health Committee, purportedly created to give former Councilor Jimmy Blake a committee to head, was the Council’s solution. Councilor Montgomery had originally chaired the Public Health Committee, but was named to replace Sykes as head of Public Safety.
Sykes refused to go silently, however. She stressed that public health issues need a committee of their own, citing concerns like pollution and “the rising AIDS problem with our young teenagers.” At the next day’s council meeting, Sykes asked that Public Health be left intact as a committee and that she be allowed to remain in charge of Public Safety as well as Education. “I think that [my removal] is a very unfair move,” she complained. “Nobody asked me about it.” Beseeching her colleagues, she pleaded, “I know that you have a vote to decide my destiny in terms of where I am. But votes don’t make it right.”
Councilor Hendricks explained that the importance of health issues was not lost on the Council; the name was simply eliminated and the functions divided between Montgomery and Sykes. Hendricks denounced as unfair any suggestion by Sykes that the Council was minimizing concern for health and environmental problems.
Councilor Carole Smitherman agreed. “I resent the notion that we are doing something unfair up here!” thundered Smitherman. “She can’t have two committees!” Smitherman attributed the committee dilemma to the inordinate length of time involved to designate final committee assignments.
New Public Safety chairman Joel Montgomery said he’ll serve on any committee. “Makes no difference to me,” said Montgomery. “What I do have a problem with, folks, is policy.” The councilor gestured in Loder’s direction. “I do not want this council to go down the same road again where we have someone who is making all the policy.”
Odds and ends
Councilor Sykes didn’t blink an eye when she turned part of the February 5 meeting into a commercial spot touting a Highland Avenue coffee shop. “You know, we’ve had some long meetings and we don’t have anything to eat,” Sykes said as she thanked the café that brought free “coffee and different Danishtries [sic] . . . so that our council members won’t get too hungry” The shop’s management promptly invited councilors to come in for lunch or coffee. Expressions of bemused horror crossed councilors’ faces, and Council President Loder finally halted the brazen advertisement. Sykes assured the Council President that she was unaware that blatant endorsements were going to occur. &