Taylor City Council Special Meeting - October 12, 2023: Procedural Dispute and Approval of TGMA Tentative Agreement
Taylor City Council Special Meeting – October 12, 2023
A special meeting of the Taylor City Council was held on October 12, 2023, at 6:30 PM in the Municipal Building, 23555 Goddard Road, Taylor, MI. The sole purpose was to consider the Tentative Agreement between the City of Taylor and the Taylor Governmental Management Association (TGMA). The meeting was dominated by extended parliamentary debate over whether to rescind a prior motion to postpone the agreement to the regular October 17, 2023 meeting, followed by final approval of the contract by a 5–2 vote.
Discussion Items
- Parliamentary Challenge and Agenda Acceptance: Councilwoman Brandana raised a point of order that the agenda motion to “reconsider and revoke” the prior postponement was not proper under Robert’s Rules of Order, because reconsideration must occur at the same meeting as the original motion. After debate, the Chair and Corporation Counsel indicated that the intent could be met by changing the motion to “rescind” and that the council could waive strict Robert’s Rules if a majority agreed. Councilwoman Brandana and others argued that only reconsideration could alter a postponement. The agenda was accepted by a 7–2 roll call (Rose and Daniels opposed; Ramick, Winton, Brandana, Johnson, Geis in favor).
- Motion to Rescind the Postponement (Item 4.1): Councilman Johnson moved, seconded by Councilwoman Witten, to rescind the motion to postpone the TGMA agreement until October 17, 2023. The motion failed 2–5 (Winton and Geis in favor; Rose, Daniels, Ramick, Brandana, Johnson opposed). The Chair noted that the rescind motion failed, so the postponement remained in effect.
- Motion to Reconsider the Failed Rescind Motion: Councilman Johnson, who had voted against the rescind, moved to reconsider the vote on the rescind motion. After further debate about procedure, the motion to reconsider passed 4–3 (Ramick, Winton, Johnson, Geis in favor; Rose, Daniels, Brandana opposed).
- Renewed Motion to Rescind the Postponement: Following the reconsideration, Councilwoman Witten moved to rescind the postponement. This motion passed 4–3 (Ramick, Winton, Johnson, Geis in favor; Rose, Daniels, Brandana opposed), clearing the way for the council to vote on the TGMA agreement.
- Motion to Approve the Tentative Agreement (Item 4.2): Councilwoman Brandana moved to approve the Tentative Agreement between the City of Taylor and the Taylor Governmental Management Association, seconded by Councilwoman Witten. There was no further discussion on the substance of the agreement. The motion passed 5–2 (Ramick, Winton, Brandana, Johnson, Geis in favor; Rose, Daniels opposed).
Key Outcomes
- After a series of procedural motions, the council successfully rescinded the prior postponement and then approved the TGMA Tentative Agreement by a 5–2 vote (Roll call: Rose – No, Daniels – No, Ramick – Yes, Winton – Yes, Brandana – Yes, Johnson – Yes, Geis – Yes).
- The meeting adjourned at 7:02 PM.
Public Comments & Testimony
No public comments were made during the meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Agenda, I'm sorry, second item on the agenda is a pledge of allegiance. Like to ask the mayor to lead us in the pledge. One nation is next item on the agenda is acceptance of the agenda. Chairman. Councilman Brandana. I make a motion to accept the agenda. Support Chairman. There is a motion by Councilwoman Brandana supported by Councilwoman Whitten. Is there any discussion? Councilwoman. Yeah, I I do not believe that the two motions on the agenda are in order for tonight. In order for a reconsideration to happen, once there is an order of the day, um, and I did speak to corporate counsel. You you cannot reconsider unless the motion was made at the last meeting. In order to reconsider something, you have to make it at that prior meeting. So to try and bring it today when there's already been an order of the day for the next meeting is not in order. Councilman Brandana and Councilwoman Witten, I believe the intent uh either to reconsider and or rescind uh would be in order, but to clarify, I believe your intent was to rescind the motion. Uh would that be accurate? Yes. Councilman Brandana, would that be acceptable to change reconsider to rescind? Um I think I was just doing the agenda right now. So you're so I guess uh this is Chairman's yes, go ahead. Okay. Um no, no, I did not I talked about charging. Yeah, so I I was just accepting the agenda to get the meeting started, but um I was going to talk about these things in the next things, but I guess this is the right place. I wasn't sure about the the form of this either. I read a lot of things about it, and and I agree that in I that the proper motion should have been rescind, but rescind you have to do other things. Um if you rescind it needs uh three fourth vote, I believe. Or three, what is it? Two thirds if not two thirds if not given prior notice, and the this motion this meeting has been uh posted, so notification has been given and a two-thirds uh vote would not be required. But it wasn't yes, but it wasn't a motion. Well, first of all, the notice at first, what what is the time frame on the notice? Because I couldn't find that 24 hours. 24 hours? Okay. I couldn't I knew it was like a amount of hours that I I thought it was 48, so I wasn't sure. Um the um so um the initial one that was posted did not say reconsider, then it was corrected to say reconsider that was yesterday, right? There was a that was 24 hours. Yeah, so the yeah, yes. And I believe it was corporation council that had given guidance on exactly what the proper motion would be for it. I did not set the agenda, just to be clear. And I believe the way we're reading it at this point time, the intent and communication was very explicit to bring this contract back uh before the body. Uh someone who had previously voted to postpone uh is one of the people that called the meeting. So certainly in intent and form uh by calling this meeting, they are indicating uh that they want to bring this item back before the body, and certainly three members have a right to uh call a meeting, and in this case it is very explicit that it affects the postponement from the previous meeting, and therefore that needs to be dealt with first before acting upon the motion that had been postponed. Corporation council, just for clarification um yeah, the 24-hour notice has to do with the special meeting, not the individual motions that are on the agenda. The reason for the special meeting is to discuss the the TGM contract. So any motions regarding that would be properly discussed tonight. The I also want to clarify that the motion, the first motion, the way it reads is a motion to reconsider and revoke the prior a motion. So whether you call revoke or rescind, I think the intent is the same. Oh, thank you. Corporation council.
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