Council committee meets without proper notice

A meeting of the Common Council’s Finance and Audit Committee was held Monday evening without the required public notice of the event being published beforehand, in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Law.

Council President James Noble said afterwards the meeting should have been publicized. He also said this was not the first time such a thing had happened.

Still, Noble said, the Common Council would move forward Tuesday evening with the resolution that was discussed at the committee meeting. (Tuesday’s meeting took place too late for inclusion in this story.)

Council members were scheduled to meet only for a caucus Monday evening, but ended up adjourning that meeting in order to hold an im-

promptu Finance and Audit Committee that was not scheduled. The five-member committee, chaired by Alderman Douglas Koop, D-Ward 2, discussed and adopted a resolution authorizing $42,672 to be taken from the city’s 2016 contingency fund to cover cost overruns in the corporation counsel’s budget.

When asked following the committee meeting about the lack of public notice, Koop said it was a good question, which he immediately brought to Corporation Counsel Kevin Bryant.

Bryant said the resolution to balance his department’s 2016 budget had been on the agenda of the Finance and Audit Committee’s regular March meeting. He said he asked during that meeting to wait to discuss the resolution because he was not prepared to do so that evening due to his secretary being on vacation.

Bryant said the decision then was made to address

the resolution during the Common Council caucus.

Noble said the resolution was a bookkeeping matter. He said it was part of the process for the city to resolve its 2016 budget.

The fiscal year ended Dec. 31.

“We have done it in the past,” Noble said when asked about the lack of notice before the committee meeting.

According to the New York Department of State website, the Open Meetings Law requires that notice of the time and place of all meetings be given prior to every one. If a meeting is scheduled at least a week in advance, notice must be given to the public and news media at least 72 hours prior. When a meeting is scheduled less than a week in advance, notice must be given to the public and media to the extent practicable at a reasonable time prior to the meeting. Notice to the public must be done by posting the meeting information in one or more designated public locations and posted online.

Bryant told committee

members during the meeting that the additional expenses for his office were incurred due to ongoing lawsuits.

“Litigation isn’t cheap,” he said.

He said lawsuits involving the Uptown sidewalk canopies, known as the Pike Plan, and a contract dispute with Aslan Environmental Services were the main reasons for the budget overruns.

Bryant said there also were lawsuits against the city involving employees.