The August 10, 2021 Board of Aldermen meeting was laced with more curt comments from Mayor Donchess towards Elizabeth Lu. This is reminiscent of Attorney Bolton’s vile interruption of Ms. Lu in the June 22, 2021 Board of Aldermen meeting.
Apparently, the Mayor is taking a page out of Bolton’s book.
During the Alderman comments, Ms. Lu questioned the City Attorney’s titling of an air rights lease that was titled as “executed.” Lu believed it was incorrectly titled as the contract was not yet signed.
She was addressing the matter to assist a citizen who was tracking this contract through a Right-to-Know request: The Youtube link below captures the 2-minute remark and caustic interruption and comments by the Mayor.
The Mayor accuses Ms. Lu of not getting her facts straight and not doing her homework. Once again, President Wilshire calls no point of order, nor does anyone speak up.
The “do your homework comment” is particularly outrageous as Ms. Lu, the most junior Aldermen, was the only one who caught an error, earlier in the evening, in a request from the Mayor to spend $427,600 for a phase II pump station upgrade project to the wastewater treatment facility.
The spending request from the Mayor and the subsequent motion made by Alderwoman Gathright didn’t jive. Alderwoman Gathright was motioning for 5.3 million and the Mayor was requesting $427,600.
When Ms. Lu asked the Mayor if the motion should be amended, he quickly responded: “No” while City Clerk Sue Lovering, (former clerk to the Board of Aldermen) was shaking her head “Yes.” (President Wilshire did not request advice from Attorney Bolton, who was at the table, because Attorney Bolton has refused to provide advice to Alderwoman Lu).
Fortunately, Ms. Lu pressed on and got the Board to table the matter to straighten out the motion and understand the finances.
Ms. Lu then submitted a letter to the Board requesting a quarterly schedule of upcoming contract renewals. President Wilshire referred the matter to the Administrative Affairs Committee.
So, it appears, Ms. Lu is doing her homework.
The Mayor needs to change his tone and eliminate the verbal assaults. Keep up the good work Alderwoman Lu. We appreciate your questioning where our money is going and how it is being spent.
