AGENDA
DUNWOODY SPECIAL CALLED MEETING
JULY 01, 2020
5:30 PM – VIA ZOOM
5:30 PM – VIA ZOOM
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PUBLIC COMMENT
To take part in public comment, please send an email to publiccomment@dunwoodyga.gov. Include your name, your email address, and phone number. You will be placed on a first-come, first-served list for public comment. The first public comment section has a 30-minute time limit. Each speaker is allowed up to three minutes. If time runs out, pre-registered speakers will be called on during the second public comment section toward the end of the meeting. If you don't pre-register, you can use the "raise hand" feature on zoom during the meeting to be added to the public comment list.
To take part in public comment, please send an email to publiccomment@dunwoodyga.gov. Include your name, your email address, and phone number. You will be placed on a first-come, first-served list for public comment. The first public comment section has a 30-minute time limit. Each speaker is allowed up to three minutes. If time runs out, pre-registered speakers will be called on during the second public comment section toward the end of the meeting. If you don't pre-register, you can use the "raise hand" feature on zoom during the meeting to be added to the public comment list.
Executive Session - For the Purposes of Legal and Personnel Discussions.
Mayor Deutsch has requested a special called executive session meeting of the Dunwoody City Council for Wednesday evening at 5:30 pm via Zoom. As this is a special called meeting, the agenda is not allowed to be changed once published, and as the only business identified is a closed-door executive session for the purposes of legal and personnel discussions, there will be little for the public to see. I expect the meeting to start on Zoom with the usual pleasantries of the invocation, pledge of allegiance, and public comment followed by the council excusing themselves to talk privately with attornies and then returning to Zoom at some undetermined point in the evening to officially adjourn the meeting.
When executive sessions are called, I have no specific information given to me before the meeting, nor am I allowed to discuss what happens in such meetings. Still, as this meeting was called for only legal and personnel discussions, I am guessing that it has something to do with a lawsuit and personnel actions?
When it comes to these types of matters, Council is tight-lipped, does not jump to conclusions, and acts as an independent and unbiased arbiter. I can assure you that eventually, all information that is allowed to be shared, will find the light of day.
5 comments:
Thanks for posting this update. But when you say, "I can assure you that eventually, all information that is allowed to be shared, will find the light of day" - it's a bit disingenuous. Our city's "media" employees really only release happy stories. The real transparency comes from news outlets, attorneys and citizens who spend countless hours and large amounts of their own money to find out what the city is hiding. Colorado recently created some new laws that should be considered here locally - such as requiring the release of body cam videos within 45 days, rather than keeping them hidden under the guise of being legal matters. Also, they are working to ensure that bad apple cops aren't simply allowed to resign and easily find other employment - like we have here. Until we change to model of self-investigations, we truly can't claim to be making major reforms or pat ourselves on the back. Several years ago, when the city of Dunwoody charged me for a video copy of a city council meeting that was not posted online, you paid the fee for me, to which I applaud. This week, I've spent around $400 getting files from the city that would never see the light of day, because our city attorneys and city manager would prefer the information not be made public. We can do better. But let's be honest about what the situation is now.
Joe Hirsch:
Isn't it true that Court evidence such as body cam footage should not be released within a codified time frame because doing so might jeopardize an ongoing investigation?
I used to think you chose to vex City Hall because your political point of view differed from those in all other prior Administrations. But clearly that is not the case. Your mission appears to be that of a natural born skeptic, at best, or an attention seeking gadfly, at worst.
Knocking over sign placards, frivolous lawsuits, odd, public stare downs at City Council meetings are stock in trade. Now you are onto a deep inquiry into a sensitive personnel issue. I suggest empathy, peoples' lives and careers are at stake.
A national Police registry won't happen because of anything Dunwoody does or doesn't do, though the idea may have merit. I really cannot say and would suggest more research on this idea.
You clearly have a sense that you are doing good, though I fail to see how the constant harping and haranguing makes Dunwoody any better. In fact, your antics portray Dunwoody as corrupt and inefficient.
Dunwoody is neither.
Max Lehmann,
All you have ever offered are excuses. Whether it’s a restaurant with a bad review or a city who knowingly violates the law – you always say, “Well, I’m sure they meant no harm and we should never criticize them because they are nice people.” You are an apologist who believes everything is rosy. It’s not, and I have done more for the benefit of this city than you have. You’ve missed all my private actions and emails – but I can CC you on them if you would like. At best, you are very ill informed, at worst, you are a liar.
You say I filed a frivolous lawsuit, yet don’t ask why the city paid thousands of dollars? It was because the city violated the 1st Amendment. No big deal, as that seems fine with you? You say I knock down placards (that were blocking the sidewalk), yet appear to believe it should remain there. You have publicly accused me of forcing the city to buy new software because I filed too many open records requests – to which you have never offered any proof. How many do I file in a year? You have no idea. You are known for making posts saying if anything is wrong in Dunwoody, the city will always, definitely take care of it if you ask. That’s beyond laughable. You say I am attempting to portray the city as “corrupt and inefficient”; sorry, you sound hurt as if your college football team lost and you need to go home and cry.
Have you ever criticized the city for their mistakes? I’m not here to be a cheerleader. We already pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for city employees to do that. What we don’t have is a group of citizens who can offer suggestions and some oversight into our police. We should not allow them to police themselves. But, I suspect you don’t think anything would ever require review, as our city never does anything wrong. I share the truth that you obviously don’t want to hear. Tune me out. Block my twitter. Don’t watch city council meetings.
You seem like someone who has never taken responsibility for any of your moronic behaviors and wish that society could subscribe your simplistic and sophomoric beliefs. Those like you in real estate tend not to highlight things such as a deck that might fall over. Those of us with a career in news make it a headline – so someone doesn’t get hurt. Your overused attempts of labeling me a gadfly indicate your odd obsession with my actions, chronicling my work to better Dunwoody, and I believe you are harboring intense feelings for me, and I appreciate your infatuation. Thank you for your service, but perhaps you can use some of that energy to get your head out of the sand and stop disparaging those who hurt your feelings. Grow up.
Wow Joe!
Clearly you are only one post away from being triggered. Less caffeine, more exercise.
Calling our host disingenuous is why I wrote my comment. The matter at hand is serious and involves real lives, real people - I trust John when he says "I can assure you that eventually, all information that is allowed to be shared, will find the light of day."
Dear Readers calling John disingenuous is a whopping mouthful considering Mr. Hirsch's dubious dealings in the name of pitching in and helping the City better itself.
It is both sad and misguided to think you are trying to better Dunwoody by heckling City Hall, insulting the Police, and our elected representatives. Your specious claim that Dunwoody "Violated the 1st Amendment" sounds pretty serious until one recalls facts.
You profited from a bogus, 'gotcha,' lawsuit over a unneeded and mean-spirited sign that required thousands of City dollars to defend. They had to respond. You did cash your lawsuit City check for a measly few hundred dollars, right?
Fancy yourself as an investigative journalist like your boss, Dale Cardwell? Unlike Dale, you have to yet to actually find a real issues to investigate. Sign fetishes don't count as a most pressing City issue, in virtually all adult minds. Nor does nettling City Hall with a constant stream of vitriol and criticism, while using an anonymous Twitter account. That behavior is actually counter-productive, demoralizing, and tantamount to cowardice.
Did you make Dunwoody better by opposing the beautiful display of American flags to celebrate a major US holiday, at a house of worship? That was a classic!
Unpatriotic behavior, bordering on delusional, Joe.
The hard work and daily grind of governance in our complicated world is rooted in human relations, not perfection. People screw up. Rules, regulations, and law are not always perfectly written. Every single thing does not work perfectly out of the box.
Yet, there is never a shortage of narrative peddlers to point this stuff out to us, locally, or on the National level. But you are not even a cub reporter stringing obituaries for a penny a word. What a dull tool, a cheap pen with no ink!
Constant whiners and perennial complainers like you abound, nothing grand or new about an opportunist masking their pathetic need for attention in the name of the 'public good.' A bad joke, wrapped in false piety, blind to all who laugh at you.
Bless your heart.
Wow Max,
Don't change at all. Everyone loves you, especially me. You need it.
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