Mr. Mayor and Honorable Members of Council:

In a constitutional republic, the principal duty of an elected representative of the people is to understand the needs and desires of those they serve. Honest, direct, and frequent communication with one’s constituents is the preferred means of staying apprised of their views. Those sorts of interactions enable elected officials to benefit from the collective experience and wisdom of the members of their community. Your recent action demonstrates your underdeveloped appreciation of those republican ideals.

For the first six months of pandemic, the Portsmouth version of virtual meetings relegated citizen input to asynchronous modes — eMail and recorded telephone messages — collected over the course of the week preceding and delivered late in the day before the meeting in question. The accommodation of real time input proximate to the moment of actual deliberation on agenda items only occurred two weeks ago. In conjunction with that restoration of the status quo pre-COVID-19, however, came a new hindrance, unannounced until the last minute: restriction of the allotted speaking time from the standard five minutes to three. No explanation or discussion and no opportunity for public input preceded this legislative fiat.

The action council took was wrong on every level. First, it was disrespectful to the people council was elected to serve. Odd that a group so fixated on remedying perceived breaches of respect directed at them — the topic was thoroughly discussed and revisited at three of your prior retreats — gave no apparent thought to the corresponding effect this would have on your constituents. Clearly, council misunderstands the nature of respect as something that only works when it is mutual rather than one way.

Second, council’s action was incompetent and illegitimate. Under Roberts’ Rules of Order, once a body accepts an agenda, modifications, including additions, require a motion to modify. The only motion relevant to this item of business presented two Tuesdays ago, however, was one to restrict public speeches to council to three minutes. The presiding officer, Mayor Rowe, who should have ruled it out of order, allowed it to proceed. With no council member raising a point of order, the motion went to a vote and received unanimous approval.

Third, in addition to the failure to comply with Roberts’ Rules of Order which made the action illegitimate, the change was illegal under the Declaration of Local Emergency that sets the parameters for what council can and cannot do in a virtual meeting. That ordinance, adopted in the April 14, 2020, virtual meeting of city council contains provision 9. g., to wit:

That the following shall apply to electronic meetings held by City Council: All proposed agenda items must be sent to the City Manager and City Attorney for a compliance review, [emphasis is mine] which will take into consideration, among other things, the statutory limitations of Virginia Code Section 15.2-1413, and the potential harm of deferring the item until the threat of COVID-19 has passed.

The fact that this motion was not on the approved agenda for the September 22 virtual meeting is prima facie evidence that the required review by the City Manager and City Attorney did not occur. Unless that review is substantiated with credible evidence, the rule change would be illegal.

Fourth, in the two local elections since 2016, citizens groups have questioned candidates about restrictions on citizen speeches before council. Limitations imposed arbitrarily by earlier councils were a source of popular resentment and partially responsible for several personnel changes on council. In every instance, the people who are now sitting as mayor and members of council pledged that they would support the five-minute speaking time that has been the standard for most of the last 24 years. Clearly, once they have gotten comfortable in those seats, the incumbents no longer fee obliged to uphold their promises. This attitude feeds negative perceptions of politicians generally and you all specifically.

In sum, Mayor and Council, since your change was disrespectful to the people you are supposed to serve, illegitimate under your own rules, illegal under a law you adopted, and a betrayal of what you promised us when you ran for office, I refuse to be bound by the three-minute speaking limit and will encourage other residents to disregard it. Furthermore,  Mayor Rowe and Council Members Moody and Psimas, the latter two being the longest sitting members on city council, I call for your immediate resignations. The three of you have shown an appalling lack of appreciation for democratic procedure and servant leadership, both in the case described and in a multitude of others during your respective tenures. You need to free up the people’s seats for those capable of serving the people better.

Please let me know if you need additional information.

Yours truly,
Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky