A quick primer before tonight's council meeting.

It's the council's first meeting of the year. A new president and vice president will be elected. According to New Albany law, here's what's supposed to happen after that:

§ 30.20 ELECTION OF MEMBERS OF COMMISSIONS AT FIRST MEETING EACH YEAR.

The Common Council member of the city's Plan Commission and of any other special body to which the Council shall be entitled to name a member or members, shall be elected by the Council at its first meeting in January of each year, to serve until the end of the current calendar year.

(Ord. 4600, passed 3-4-1957)


Note that it clearly does not say that the president shall appoint members. It says they are to be elected by the council.

According to my own firsthand observations and the minutes of the meeting, here's what happened last year after Dan Coffey was elected president and produced a list on paper of his own designees:

FIFTEEN MINUTE RECESS:

Mr. Coffey called for a recess at 7:35 p.m. to discuss committee appointments.

Mr. Coffey called the meeting back into session at 7:41 p.m.

Then newly elected President Coffey's first official act was to call a recess so that the entire council could privately discuss the positions. No public discussion and no elections took place.

The appointments were made contrary to city law and the recess was at least questionable under the auspices of state sunshine law. Tribune reporter Daniel Suddeath had to track down officials after the meeting to even get a list of the appointments.

As we're all aware thanks to the senior editor's reporting, that was just the first of Coffey's consistent rule violations as president.

Some council members have since claimed that they voted on those appointments but the minutes from last year's meeting show otherwise. An excerpt from the minutes of the second January '09 meeting provides further evidence:

Mr. Caesar stated that Mr. Coffey appointed him to the Horseshoe Board but he is unable to attend all of the meetings and he suggested that he re-appoint Mr. Gonder to that board.

Mr. Coffey re-appointed Mr. Gonder to the Horseshoe Board.


The council could take a step towards credibility this evening by correcting one of Coffey's many missteps. A straightforward election as mandated by law is neither difficult nor costly. It requires only a desire to follow the rules and set a better example.

We'll see.