Trenton clerk admonishes council members over Parrey leak
TRENTON » The alleged leaking of a confidential tape led the city clerk to admonish City Council members in a strongly worded letter Friday morning.
City clerk Dwayne Harris emailed council members around 11 a.m. after The Trentonian published a story based on a recording it obtained of the Sept. 7 executive session where city police director Ernest Parrey Jr. appeared before the panel to speak about his use of the word “hood rats” in describing city residents.
The insensitive remark, perceived by some as racist, sparked outrage in the city, led to calls for Parrey’s resignation and the issuance of a third Rice notice to the embattled police director.
At the closed-door meeting, the recording showed Parrey justified using the word by contending a sportswriter used the same turn in an article he wrote about proud Irish MMA fighter and crossover boxing star Conor McGregor.
Harris was miffed that The Trentonian obtained the recording of the “confidential discussion.”
“I am very disturbed to hear that a member of the City Council shared the recording from the executive session on September 7, with the Trentonian,” Harris wrote, noting the newspaper published the entirety of the meeting online.
The email, labeled of “high importance,” was obtained by The Trentonian through a public records request. Harris called The Trentonian back later in the day to ask how it found out about the memo.
The email was sent to all council members as well as city law director Walter Denson and deputy clerk Cordelia Stanton.
Harris cautioned council members about the erosion of trust further release of executive session recordings could have on the panel.
“The purpose of an executive session is to allow a confidential discussion of matters that could be detrimental to the city,
its officers or its employees if they were to be discussed in the public,” the clerk continued. “To share the recordings of those sessions is a violation of trust given by your fellow council members.”
During the closed-door meeting, Parrey was involved in a testy back-and-forth with councilman Alex Bethea, who was the one who requested the police director appear before council. Parrey suggested the use of the term “hood rats” wasn’t racist because it didn’t offend the two black police officers whom he said it in front of.
Parrey, who has been under constant heat the last few months, also invoked an ESPN article written by Wright Thompson, reading to council members a passage of the story that referred to McGregor as the
“Crumlin hood rat.”
Harris noted in the email the release of the recording violated Robert’s Rules of Order, the policies and guidelines governing municipal meetings.
Citing from the rules, Harris wrote council members who release confidential information can be censured or publicly rebuked for violating the “secrecy of an executive session.”
He encouraged panel members to adopt “specific rules or ordinances dealing with confidential information.”
Harris also suggested limiting distribution of recordings of future executive sessions and requiring the council president to approve release of them going forward.
“The only reason to record executive sessions is for the benefit of completing the minutes,” he said. “I would further suggest if any member wishes to relisten to a specific executive session, that it be done here in this office.”