The City Council can end Dei, remote work – Tribune East Valley Tribune

OOn January 14, four newly elected employees joined three detainees for the first meeting of the Municipal Council by a majority subjected to the conservative.

Frankly by angry comments about the proposed – and implemented – cancellation of a “city’s resistance plan”, it was a tumultuous, occasionally a chaotic meeting.

5 PM Tuesday, February 11, the meeting may exceed it.

In fact, even before discussing two questions about hot buttons-the refinement of funding for diversity, justice and inclusion (DEI) programs and a ban on remote work, as they reflect the Trump Public Members of the Public Members, they can argue the “plan for the plan for the Sustainability is still valid.

The critics of the majority of the new council claim that the cancellation of the plan itself must be canceled due to a violation of the Open Meeting Act, or to the city officials giving new members to create powers too early.

The ecological plan was not in the original agenda on January 14th. It was added four days before the hearing after a member of the Council also asked for a poll of the city official Ben Lane found support for a majority.

Stephen Jackson, a lawyer and chairman of the Democratic Legislative District 8, filed a complaint with the Prosecutor General of the State on January 22.

According to Jackson, “four council members and the mayor may have had an illegal quorum in private communications that have arisen on or around January 13.”

He claims that Mayor Lisa Borovski and Council members Barry Graham, Jan Dubauskas, Katie Littlefield and Adam Quasman report by an attempt to silence any opposite views of the Council and make sure that the public will not hear counterpopons on the earlier , accepted earlier, to cancel the stability plan. “

Asked about the problem, Borovski said: “Just because I was copied by email, which I have no idea why, certainly it is not a violation of the Open Meeting Act.

“I was obviously the recipient of an unsolicited email I didn’t participate in – zero.”

None of the Council members responded to a request from the progress of comment on Jackson’s complaint.

Graham has been in his post since 2022. Borovski, Dubauskas and Quasman took public oaths on the post on January 14, just before the first meeting of the Municipal Council of the Year.

But before that, the new members had private ceremonies.

According to Kelly Corset, a spokesman for the city, “there is an administrative process that all employees in the city end before starting their employment – this involves completing documents related to healthcare, benefits, retirement and signing an oath of loyalty.

“When the newly elected members signed their oath of loyalty,” he added, “they were offered the opportunity to be” sworn at the same time. Some decided to do this, others were waiting for the inauguration ceremony on January 14th. “

But, Corset noted, “On Article 2, Section 3 of the City Charter of Scottsdale, the newly elected members have been” officially “in their post since the beginning of the meeting on January 14.”

So, when were the new members of the mayor and the council undergoing laws to open meetings? “I have no answer right now,” Corset told progress, “and I’m not sure when I will be able to answer.”

Earlier this week, a corset said, “I have no further clarity on this.”

Jackson’s position is that the proposal for the agenda by a new member and the survey of new members before January 14 is problematic, the least.

“While the position of the city lawyer (as I was told) is that none of the members of the Municipal Council has the right to act, so it is required to provide requested records by the members of the Council who have not been found, they, they, they, They, they also claim that the agenda items are placed correctly and noticed before the public, “Jackson said by email.

“This is just not true, the advice tries to have your cake – vote for substances before being” discovered ” – – And eat too: they refuse to provide records, although they suggest that they have acted. “

As evidence, with his complaint, Jackson attached the copy of the email on January 13 by former councilor Bob Littlefield, who is obviously a “answer to everyone”.

Included in the e -mail chain: Graham, Borovsky, Dubaskas, Quasman and Advisor Katie Littlefield (Bob’s wife).

Council members are allowed to discuss questions before the meetings with a maximum of two other council members.

Bob Littlefield’s email reads “I agree with Barry.”

Below is an obvious email from Graham, which obviously advises the group “The best way to navigate the” Sustainability Plan “voice is not to tweet or post for it -not to oxidize it.”

As Jackson sees it, or those who were part of the discussion, they violated the Law on Open Meetings – or, if they were not, the item should not have been added to the agenda.

“I decide whether to take a declaratory action to determine whether the cancellation of the sustainability plan – and indeed all other items on the agenda placed at the last moment – are placed properly before the council,” Jackson said.

The lawyer and the democratic leader did not say how he received the email sent from Bob Little to Borovsky, Katie Littlefield, Dubauskas, Graham and Quaasman.

Diversity processing?

As reported in the progress on February 2, Kwasman and Dubauskas discussed the elimination of the Scottsdale diversity service before asking for members of the urban official Ben Lane to add a Dei agenda.

According to an email on the tape sent on January 30, a majority of council members have agreed.

Therefore, an element of the agenda, which focuses the city’s employment practices on employment based on the merit and terminate the use of city funds for programs for diversity, justice and inclusion, will be considered on Tuesday, February 11, a meeting of the Municipal Council.

Dubauskas told the progress that he wanted “all employees to be evaluated on the basis of their merits and work they do for the city. It is not evaluated based on anything else. “

Quasman said he was shooting to “remove the Day in Scotsdale.”

The report on the agenda notes the proposed Ordinance “Terminates the use of urban funds for DEI. … The Diversity Service, including the variety program program, will be terminated. “

Solange WhiteHead is alive over the idea.

“As for the Day, they pretend to solve a problem that does not exist,” she said. “This is a statement against diversity.”

The veterans’ advice said it expects people to speak against the subject of the agenda of the meeting.

“People have sent me an email and said that this is contrary to everything Scottsdale has been doing for several decades to be a welcoming community,” Whitehead said.

“I’m sad. Not who are in Scottsdale. “

Return to office

Whitehead is also against the subject “Return to Office Work on the Office”.

“I am really disturbed that they are trying to get our employees to work full -time in the office,” Whitehead said.

“We all know that people have flexibility at work, makes them work best -and helps us keep the best employees.”

But Graham said it was in favor of the position of the agenda “Because people are more productive who work together in the office.

“We pay for all this office space,” Graham said. “We want to return people with office work in the office, working with our colleagues.”

Long after the pandemic promotes remote work, “there are still a large number of employees in the city working from the home,” Graham said.

“These are the back-off people,” he added.