Council Defeats Rotondo’s Proposal for Allowing 10 Motions

The City Council defeated Councillor-at-Large George Rotondo’s motion to allow each councillor to present 10 separate motions at all Council meetings.

Rotondo was the only councillor to vote in support of increasing the number of motions from five to ten.

“For example, during summer session, you may need to put in motions and so forth, and then they pile up, and with that said, they will take time to get processed through,” said Rotondo, trying to garner support for his proposal.

Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe said that with as many as ten motions per councillor at meetings, “it could be a very unproductive night – it could just be a lot of paperwork that really isn’t getting the information out to the residents that’s most important. I’m more of a fan of quality versus quantity. I always appreciate Councilor Rotondo – you’re very active. But I think we should stick to the current rules of order.”

Ward 3 Councillor Arthur Guinasso said the current rules have been working well for many years. “There hasn’t been one individual who’s come forward and said, ‘I don’t think I have enough time to get my motions in’,’’ offered Guinasso. “If there’s a need, certainly you get additional motions in.”

Councillor-at-Large Gerry Visconti said, “If it’s not broken, why fix it.”

“I think the five motions and the three that we can speak on, is fine,” said Visconti. “I commend Councillor Rotondo on all the motions that he puts in. It takes a lot of effort, and a lot of research, and I commend him on that. I think the five-and-three is sufficient per meeting with 11 councillors here.”

Councillor-at-Large Steven Morabito reasoned that if each councillor proposed 10 motions, it could add up to 110 motions during a single meeting. “I think we need to look at time constraints,” said Morabito.

While Rotondo’s work ethic was praised, his motion increasing councillors’ motions to ten per meeting was defeated by an 8-1 margin.