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Aldermen Release Report On Mayor’s Actions

Rutland, VT
Doug Kerr-Dougtone/Flickr
Rutland, VT

The Rutland Board of Aldermen has approved releasing a report by the city attorney that reviews whether the mayor acted within his powers under the city charter when he made plans to resettle Syrian refugees.

The report concludes that the mayor did have the power under the city charter to work with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants on a plan to bring 100 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to the city.  Mayor Christopher Louras unilaterally announced in April that the city was being considered as a resettlement site.   Many residents and members of the Board of Aldermen were taken aback that no information had been released nor public hearings held.

One of the actions taken by the Board of Aldermen was having city attorney Charles Romeo determine if the mayor had overstepped his powers under the charter.   Alderman Tom DePoy says the 26-page report is fairly thorough but numerous questions remain.   “We spent two hours in executive session under attorney-client privilege to speak with him about it. We asked a lot of questions. We had a lot of debate about it. And ultimately we decided that we wanted to release the report. But in my final assessment of it there are still some questions that have been left unanswered that we are going to follow up on and so is the city attorney.”

Rutland First is a group that is questioning whether the city has the infrastructure and economic ability to host the refugees.  Member David Trapeni says many in the community doubt the report clearing the mayor’s actions.   “He did overstep his authority by bypassing the Board of Aldermen. I think that's quite clear. And one of  the things that we objected to and we've petitioned with some of the board to get an outside counsel because the mayor hires the city attorney; their officers are together; they share the same secretary. That's why we thought it was a good idea and some of the board did that outside counsel should be used because this report is suspect because of the relationship between the city attorney and the mayor.”

A three-fourths majority was needed to make the report public.  Last week Mayor Louras pushed the Board of Aldermen to release the report then, a move that DePoy questions.   “He knew exactly what was in that report and that's why he called a special meeting of the Board of Aldermen because he wanted that report released last Tuesday. And I was thoroughly blindsided by the fact that he even knew that the report had been released to the board, which was still under executive session as attorney-client privilege.”
Mayor Christopher Louras says he hasn’t read the report.   “I to this day, to this minute, during this conversation, don't know what specifically is in it or the justification for the conclusion the city attorney made.  I have not read the report. I have not been briefed on the report. No member of the Board of Aldermen and certainly not the city attorney gave me the report, read to me the report, gave me a synopsis or a brief on it.  And I understood that it was very important for the community to see the results and the conclusions as soon as they were made available to the Board of Aldermen. The public can read and draw their own conclusions and they should have been given that opportunity last week.”

The release of this report on Louras’ city authority does not end the controversy.  City aldermen are requesting to obtain the original application to the federal government.  That transparency is crucial for Trapeni.   “We still want to get that information to see what facts were put in there and to see the accuracy of those facts.”
 

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