Succeeding a council that gave obscene amounts of money to Darren Lazan for nothing I can see of genuine value; this council gave the Charter Commission a single finger salute, saying, "Trust us." That's unwise.
Now, Joe, Harry and Jim, perhaps another but not to push the envelope of the open meeting law will decide what they want the Charter Commission to do in response, among themselves, and Joe will call a meeting.
The fact is the entire Charter fails to define the role and checks and balances on Charter Commission procedure; and THERE IS NO CORRECT WAY IN ANY RAMSEY LAW DEFINING HOW A CHARTER COMMISSION MEETING GETS CALLED.
It is Chairman Joe, not King Joe, not Dictaror of one Joe, Joe Field not Joe Stalin, where he calls one when the feeling hits, and declines if the feeling is not there.
That's a crock, how its been and I have so far cut slack on that, but if Joe the Chairman wants to call a meeting the first thing he will be facing is my raising a point of order on the legitimacy of any meeting he cares to call. There is nothing saying he, as Chair, has sole power to call any meeting for anything, depending on when the feeling hits or doesn't, and likewise nothing says Joe and Harry, in concert, have such a power.
There's a blank slate. That is the sorry truth because nobody for the duration of existence of the Charter Commission cared to think there was a need for guiding rules and clear procedure. It's a giant Black Hole, and has been that since God was a child. It's time for reform, do the reform, set the ground rules next meeting, and then move on to responsive though about what the council did and how the Charter Commission should respond. But this is not the wild west where there are two sides facing each other in the one street of town waiting for the clock to chime high noon before anyone draws and shoots.
This is a civic entity in a nation with a tradition of at least lip service to the notion we stand for having a government of law and not of men. That rules and procedure constrict what persons given power can do.
Harry and Joe are both lawyers, and should know the ice is thin with this "solo discretionary" thing, especially Harry on record expressing his dislike for the ways things got done during his residency in Chicago.
Well, time to consider ... this ...
THERE IS NO FRIGGING PROCEDURAL WAYS AND MEANS TO CHECK ABUSE, AND THAT NEEDS TO BE CHANGED AT THE BEGINNING OF ANY MEETING CHAIRMAN JOE SCHEDULES.
THINGS HAVE TO BE PROPER, WITH AVOIDING THE APPEARANCE OF AD HOC CAPRICE AND FANCY, "ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS" BEING WORDS HARRY AND JOE MAY RECOGNIZE. AND SO FAR, WE AIN'T GOT THAT PROPRIETY AND PROCEDURE WE CAN TRUST; AND THE SITUATION NEEDS TO BE FIXED.