Derby City Hall
DERBY — Last week Mayor Rich Dziekan and members of the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen started to enforce rules limiting what citizens can talk about during legislative meetings.
Every regularly scheduled Derby Aldermen/Alderwomen meeting starts with a public portion. That’s the part of the meeting during which the public can address issues to the board.
Usually, there’s no restrictions placed on what topics the public can raise. It’s been rather informal in Derby for the last few years, at least.
However, toward the start of the Feb. 11 meeting, the mayor reminded the public that, according to the Derby Charter — the set of rules governing how Derby governs itself — the public is only supposed to comment on items listed on the meeting’s agenda.
It’s Section 86 of the Derby Charter, a short paragraph that the mayor read in full during the meeting.
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“In accordance with this, I ask that if you have something to say in the public portion, you clearly state your name and address for the record and then reference a specific agenda item you wish to speak on,” Dziekan said.
The mayor pointed out people can request items to be placed on the agenda by contacting their representatives on the Board of Aldermen/Alderwomen, or the chairs of any other Derby committee or commission. However, the request does not mean the item will make it to the agenda.
The rule — limiting public comment to agenda items — is not unusual in local government, though it does mark a change regarding how recent Aldermen/Alderwomen meetings have been run in Derby.
The first person subjected to the increased vigilance was Aniello Malerba III. He’s the chairman of the Derby Democratic Town Committee (Dziekan’s a Republican, by the way).
During the Feb. 11 meeting, Malerba tried to talk about Derby Charter changes that voters approved in November, including one that made the mayor’s position full-time.
But the mayor cut Malerba off, pointing to the Derby Charter’s rules on public comment.
“I just read that whole paragraph,” Dziekan said.
Tom Lionetti, a Derby resident, pointed out he tried to get an issue added to the meeting agenda but was unsuccessful.
“As far as speaking on the agenda, well, if you can’t get on, you can’t speak. This is like a Communist country, for God’s sake,” Lionetti said.
Malerba attempted to speak again. He said he wanted to speak about tax refunds, an item listed on the agenda. But then he asked the mayor to pledge to not accept campaign donations from developers.
“I would ask that we have a public pledge from our mayor not to take any political contributions from anyone associated with any projects, specifically tax-break applicants,” Malerba said. “It can apply to zone-change applicants and any developer associated with projects with the city.”
Dziekan again referenced the City Charter rule on public comment.
“I don’t know what that has to do with the tax refund,” the mayor said.
“Absolutely nothing, Mr. Mayor,” said Third Ward Alderman Charles Sampson, a Republican.
Clips from the Aldermen/Alderwomen meeting are embedded in the video below. The article continues after the video.
In an interview Tuesday (Feb. 16), Andrew Baklik, Mayor Dziekan’s chief of staff, said Malerba was practicing “bush league” political theater because there is a municipal election in November. He criticized Malerba for questioning the mayor’s integrity for political points.
The Valley Indy sent an email to Malerba Tuesday for a reaction but did not hear back.
Baklik said the new enforcement of an old rule wasn’t motivated by a desire to stifle Malerba.
Baklik said that at the January Aldermen/Alderwomen meeting, Sal Coppola, the city’s former finance director, spoke during the public comment and, reading from a letter, began to question former finance director Keith McLiverty’s job performance while McLiverty worked for the Region 15 school district.
Sampson cut Coppola off during that meeting, pointing out Coppola’s issue wasn’t on the agenda. Second Ward Alderman Ron Sill indicated Coppola’s issues might make it to February’s agenda, but they did not.
“When that was shut down by Alderman Sampson, no one had the charter in front of them. But he was correct in his statement. So the mayor reading the charter section at the next meeting was just in response to that,” Baklik said.
The mayor’s chief of staff said that the rule exists because it’s part of running an effective government meeting.
“We’ve been lucky in Derby. The comments, in general, don’t go off the rails. But what’s to stop someone from coming in and saying ‘I want to talk about Custer’s Last Stand? The point is we’re here to talk Derby business — legislative business. At the end of the day, this is something that exists in the charter.”
