By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
Councilman Timothy Turner discussed changes to committee assignments at the City of Parsons regular council meeting June 6th. The issue became a point of contention between members of the council with acting mayor Bruce Kolsun walking out of the meeting at one point and re-entering minutes later.
“I looked through the ordinances here and I would like for someone to tell me where in the ordinances it specifies that the mayor assigns the committees,” Turner said.
“There should be an ordinance in the jobs and duties,” Council Member Melissa Jones said.
Acting Mayor Kolsun said communication was key in the issue. “Can I say something about this first?” Kolsun said. “There’s no secret person who, ‘We have to put so and so on this committee.’ There’s nothing going on that’s against anybody when assignments are up for them. So, I don’t know if we even need to mess with this. If you want to be on a certain committee, then you talk to the mayor cause its a major thing to change all this. Just talk to the mayor because that’s how we do it. If you don’t want to be cooperative then I guess we have to do this, but if you want to be cooperative. If you tell me you want to be on this committee, this committee and this committee, but then another person wants to be on this committee, we can discuss it. That person, the 3 people can discuss it.”
Jones asked about when council appointments would be. “So come July first you will be making recommendations for the committees,” Jones said.
“Right and I will talk to all the people,” Kolsun said. “But July first, that’s another thing, I believe the committees are reset after an election and we didn’t have an election this year, so next July first…If you want to be on another committee – I was on the youth committee and I was on the – I wasn’t always on the committees I’m on now. So I was on different committees. The way the committees work is we initiate. The chairman initiates that and there’s no set time that we have to have a committee meeting every month. Nothing has ever been said about that. There’s no reason the mayor and the council can work as a cooperative group rather than put it in writing and change. Because that’s what it says. It says the mayor appoints the committees. So if the mayor appoints the committees, we just need to work cooperatively and I hope that we can. If its me or whoever the mayor is.”
As Kolsun spoke, Turner said, “Where is it? Where does it say that? Where is it? Where did you find that?”
Councilman James Hunmphrey Jr said that he was happy with his committees but thought that perhaps other members may like a change. “I’m tickled to death with what I’m doing, the committees that I am on, but maybe Tim or Kathy wants to move to a different committee and if they do, so be it. Let them.”
City Administrator Agnes Arnold said the policy was outlined in the city charter. “Its in the charter,” Arnold said. “Its in the beginning part of it, I think that’s where Pat seen it…and it may be just a policy.”
“I’ve read the charter, I’ve googled it, I’ve pulled up the ordinances, its not in the ordinances. Its not in any of that stuff,” Turner said.
Kolsun reiterated his position on the issue. Kolsun said, “You see what I’m trying to say? Is there any reason why you should oppose that?”
“Yes,” Turner said.
“Because you don’t want to cooperate with us,” Kolsun said. “Is that what you are telling me?”
Turner clarified his opinion. “You can say your opinion,” Turner said.
“No, its not my opinion,” Kolsun said. “I’m trying to get a cooperative council and mayor to work together. If you don’t want to that’s – it can go on record that you don’t want to.”
“You just remember that you work for us,” Turner said. “We don’t work for you. The council runs the business.”
“Nobody works for anybody,” Kolsun said. “Don’t tell me that.”
Arnold read a document outlining the issue at hand. “It says, ‘A review of the city rules establishes the power of appointment of members to standing committees is reserved to the mayor. This discretionary function can only be changed by enacting a new ordinance and prior to the term of the new mayor of amending the rules. This must be in accordance with West Virginia Code and our ordinances in effect. A lot of committees is defined in the ordinance. Now this is a legal opinion by Mr. Nichols.”
“But its not in our charter,” Turner said.
Kolsun reiterated what the mayor’s duties were in regards to appointments. “The mayor has the authority to remove or add any committee that he or she may deem necessary,” Kolsun said. “There, that’s what it says on this piece of paper.”
Turner questioned the origin of the document Kolsun quoted. “Is it this?” Turner said. “This is council minutes. This is minutes. This is not an ordinance. This is just minutes of a meeting. Yes it is minutes because why would it say, ‘Meetings, Committees, Agenda Items and Informational Packets’? That’s part of a meeting.”
Kolsun responded by affirming his position that the council should work together. “I’m proposing that we work cooperatively as opposed to everything having a negative overtone to everything and trying to overrun everything. Let’s work cooperatively. I’m for who wants to work cooperatively? I do.”
“I don’t think you can take a vote on that,” Turner said.
“I can,” Kolsun said. “Its informal. I want to work cooperatively. I can do what I want.”
“No you can’t,” Turner said. “That’s the problem. So, I think its been established that it is not an ordinance. It was part of a meeting because these are agenda. This is from a meeting because it says agenda items and informational packet. So, its part of an agenda. So, I will present at the next meeting something on setting and establishing committees and the responsibilities and rights.”
Kolsun said. “The mayor, that position should have some responsibilities and that’s one of them. The mayor wants to work cooperatively with council and I’m not sure what the opposition is. That kind of bothers me that we have opposition to procedure.”
Kolsun and Turner debated over who had the floor and the right to speak. “I had the floor,” Kolsun said. “You were finished when I started. No, I didn’t interrupt you. I will present something and we’ll put it to a vote and whatever the vote is, that’s what it will be.”
It was at this point in the meeting that Mayor Kolsun made his apologies and left the room for a few minutes. “I’m sorry,” Kolsun said. “I can’t deal with the disrespect.”
In response, Councilman Timothy Auvil said, “I don’t think its necessary to rewrite the book on committees. I mean for crying out loud…”
Auvil was interrupted by Turner. “That’s your opinion.”
Auvil said, “That is my opinion. Now, you just said that you had the floor, you finished speaking, now may I speak now? You know if you look at state and federal governments, committees are assigned by ranking members. You know that’s who chairs committees. When one party’s in charge, then that party is the committee chair and vice versa, but I feel that I’m on certain committees because I have the most experience of basically the rest of you put together in this room. And that’s because of hands on experience. I don’t think anyone else knows as much about the water and sewer departments and how they operate then I do in here.”
Humphreys addressed Auvil’s experience. “That’s what I was telling you last meeting, Tim,” Humphrey said. “You know, God forbid something happened to you. Nobody else in this room can do your job.”
Auvil responded to Humphrey’s comment. “Sam, I can’t train you guys,” Auvil said. “I’ve done it for 16 years. That’s just accumulated knowledge and hands on experience.”
In an attempt at compromise, Humphrey made a suggestion. “Maybe lets put Tim on the water thing and I’ll switch him.”
“I don’t want to be on the water thing,” Turner said. “That’s things that Red should be knowing.”
Auvil said, “But Red’s not on our council. Red’s just a chief operator. He attends the water sewer committee meeting to inform the council’s water sewer committee and its every committee’s responsibility to present adequate information and homework to council to be voted on. The committees just make recommendations. Its not etched in stone when committee makes the decision. Its brought before council and then its the final decision of the majority of council of what a recommendation from any committee. Whatever it is. From personnel to cemetery to streets to whatever. So what I’m saying is, I think you are going to get into a little rift because you got 7 members who all want to be on the same committee. Four of them are going to be upset…One person has to make the decision of who’s going to be on.”
By this point in the discussion, Mayor Kolsun had returned to the council room. “And that would be the mayor,” Kolsun said. “They make a decision, they talk to everybody. Maybe it wasn’t done that way before, but that what, if its me, that’s how I like to do it. I want it to be totally fair. That’s the only way it can be fair. That’s what I want.”
The next meeting of the Parsons City Council will be Wednesday, July 5 at 6 p.m. at the Charles W. “Bill” Rosenau Municipal Building, 341 Second St., Parsons.