BETHANY, Okla. — Bethany City Council members seemed surprised Tuesday that none of the proposals discussed in the recent Bethany City workshop made it to the Council meeting.
Also, some citizens and council members criticized the workshop’s vague minutes for doing too much general summarizing and not being specific enough.
Only time will tell if the items requested by council members will be considered in future city meetings, and the council approved the workshop minutes despite resistance from some on the horseshoe.
City workshop items not on agenda
In last month’s City Workshop, Bethany council members discussed plans for Bethany, and took a stability test from Oklahoma Municipal Assurance Group (OMAG). Although no action was taken, Council members requested many items to be included in future City meetings.
Members proposed initiatives such as designating an official City parliamentarian, adopting Robert’s Rules of Order, and creating a Residents’ Bill of Rights for utility issues.
Council members explicitly requested that many of these items be on the next City Council agenda. The fact that none of these showed up on Tuesday’s agenda was a cause for concern for some.
Council Member Stephen Palmer and Marylin McPhail, from Wards 2 and 3 respectively, spoke up about the lack of items discussed in the workshop on Tuesday’s agenda.
After listing more than a dozen specific initiatives, McPhail said “I just didn’t see any of that discussed, and it was asked to be put on the agenda.”
“My agenda items for the future were in excess of 20 items, and none of that is in the agenda,” Palmer insisted.
According to City Manager Elizebeth Grey, City Attorney Robert Ray Jones Jr. would have them put on future agendas.
City Workshop minutes questioned
The workshop’s minutes were another target for criticism, eventually splitting the council in a 5-4 vote to approve them.
Bethany’s meeting minutes have gone from blow-by-blow descriptions to more generalized summaries of what goes on in the chamber over the last few months.
For example, The City’s minutes state that in the workshop, “Some council members shared their goals for the future,” and that “There was much discussion from council concerning finances for the council.”
The full minutes of the City Workshop can be found here.
The vague language alarmed several Council members.
“When push comes to shove, certain people get what they want in the minutes, and other people, when they make comments, they don’t get brought up,” Palmer said.
Council member Ken Smart said later in the meeting that “the minutes need to reflect the entirety of the meeting and be as inclusive as possible… I think we need to make sure that the minutes reflect what was actually said in the meeting.”
Palmer proposed that the Council strike the workshop minutes and amend them with additional information, but the Council ultimately disagreed.
“Well here we go again,” Palmer quipped.
Council members Stephen Palmer, Marylin McPhail, Ken Smart, and Chris Powell voted against approving the minutes, however, the majority of the Council voted in favor of approving them.
The minutes were approved 5-4, and there was no action taken to change the way minutes are written for future meetings.
The next Bethany City Council meeting is scheduled for May 21st, at 6:30 PM.
Damian Powell is our government reporter for the smaller municipalities in the OKC metro such as Moore, Norman, Bethany, and Warr Acres. Damian is studying Political Science at the University of Oklahoma.
