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Regular City Council Meeting <br /> Monday,July 8, 2019 <br /> Page 15 <br /> ly different and clear choice. He thought it was a problem to have this person <br /> stay, not only as Chair but at any level of Commissioner or continue to be part of <br /> that. He indicated to the First Amendment piece, he would take the advice of the <br /> City Attorney but also the person could have sat down and come up to make pub- <br /> lic comment like other people. One of the concerns he put in his email was mak- <br /> ing sure he could bring up things he felt were important, which he could have <br /> done as a resident. He noted there were multiple avenues for Mr. Bull to express <br /> his concerns or thoughts on that issue. He thought it was a tough position to ask <br /> Commissioners to regulate their fellow members in a situation like this and it <br /> should fall to the Council because the Council creates the Commission, appoints <br /> the Commissioners, and potentially, in this case, remove a Commissioner. He <br /> thinks that falls in the Council's purview to step into that and make a decision. <br /> Mayor Roe explained as a specific response to the motion, he does understand the <br /> difficult role of a Chair, especially in a new Chairmanship. He thought the City <br /> could point to at least a couple of not too distant examples of new Chairs having <br /> some difficulty with particularly challenging hearings and he was certainly trying <br /> to give as much benefit of the doubt in that regard as possible because that was <br /> only fair. He noted it was important to state that regardless of what the Council <br /> might do, it was appropriate to take some sort of action in response to the Chair's <br /> actions related to this. The biggest issue to him is the lack of perception of impar- <br /> tiality that came as a result of not recusing himself from the participation and was <br /> very important, especially when the Planning Commission is the officially desig- <br /> nated City hearing body for these land use cases. <br /> Mayor Roe thought it was difficult to determine exactly what was an appropriate <br /> punishment to fit the crime, so to speak, and that is why he listed all of the possi- <br /> bilities and wanted to make sure the Council had as much opportunity to look at <br /> all and think about all of the possibilities. He was not completely sure the motion <br /> was the most appropriate punishment for the action but he also believed that any <br /> action taken as a City Council in this regard should be as close to unanimous, if <br /> not unanimous as possible because he would be much more concerned if there <br /> was a split vote. For that reason, he was leaning towards supporting that motion <br /> in the absence of an alternative. <br /> Councilmember Laliberte indicated she shared Mayor Roe's impression that some <br /> action is warranted. She did not know if this would have been the one but there is <br /> a motion on the floor and she thought it was important for the Council to be unit- <br /> ed. <br /> Councilmember Groff appreciated the comment about a new Chair because he did <br /> think of that as well and did not want to ignore that this was one or Mr. Bull's <br /> first meetings as Chair. The thing that bothers him is that even after all of this <br /> discussion and feedback from his fellow Commissioners and some of the Council <br /> along with the City Attorney, Mr. Bull still does not see this behavior or the pro- <br />