Troy’s City Councilors are in a tiff over proposed legislation that allows councilors to participate virtually in case of an emergency.
In an effort to “ensure the continuity of operations” District 4 Councilor Aaron Vera is backing a proposed local law that would allow city councilors the option to participate in council meetings virtually, with permission.
Vera, a Democrat, says councilors who participate would need to have working audio and video that is not distracting.
“This would not enable video conferencing across the board,” Vera said. “This is only for emergency circumstances. So, this would require some type of family emergency to be discussed with either the council president or council member Pro Tem in order to provide permission to participate remotely. In the event that you have a reasonable excuse to participate remotely, only then during that meeting, would members of the public be able to participate remotely as well.”
Vera says the legislation is meant to support an “approach to modern governance.”
Not everyone agrees. Republican Councilor Irene Sorriento says if councilors can’t attend a meeting, they shouldn’t be allowed to participate virtually. She says councilors are elected to be visible and serve the community and that virtual meetings would take away from those obligations.
“We're here to represent our constituents,” Sorriento said.
“Right,” Council President Sue Steele said.
“And our constituents are here,” Sorriento said. “A lot of them are here, you know? They want to hear us. They want to see us, present, not through video conferencing, where technology can get, you know, I mean, we can't really rely on technology working 24/7.”
If the proposal is approved at a later meeting, residents too, would be allowed to participate virtually. But Council President Pro Tem Thomas Casey, says that scenario might allow participants and councilors to take advantage of the system. Casey, a Republican who represents District 6, says he’s worried about future behavior by “radical”
council candidates whom he said might abuse the privilege if they win in November.
“I can see activist council members in the future saying ‘hey, I'm going to stay home,’ and you get something like we had good cause, eviction,” Casey said. “How many people do we have speak? Say the next meeting, this ICE legislation? Listen, if you're going to come here and you're from Troy, and you're going to talk on Troy issues, that's great. If you're from somewhere else, and you're going to travel tour chambers, that's great. But I could just see somebody saying, ‘hey, I'm going to video conference.’ We're going to open it up, and we're going to have people from Kingston, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, New York City, Rochester, Buffalo, everything, everybody chiming in on what we should do in Troy, from their living rooms, from their computer, from their tablet, from their phone, not traveling here.”
Council President Sue Steele, a Democrat, says the law was introduced as a way to keep operations running smooth and not to make it a political point.
“There's nothing unique about this,” Steele said. “So, we are basically saying here, we want to hear from our residents in any shape or form?”
The city’s corporation counsel Richard Morrissey chimed in saying that a restriction that only allows Troy residents to speak is likely unenforceable.
A public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for Thursday, October 23rd at 5 p.m.
A separate public hearing is scheduled for 5:15 that same evening regarding a local law that would increase the allowable annual income eligibility for real property tax exemptions for seniors and disabled people.
