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Board of Mayor and Aldermen policies ranging from how items are added to the agenda to decorum during meetings were up for debate during the recent meeting of the city council.

Mayor Knowis brought up Ordinance No. 1599, which states in memo from Jordan Wilkins, assistant to the City Administrator, “City Attorney Steve Worsham has recommended that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen consolidate their rules into one document. Currently the Board has adopted in Title 1 (General Administration), Chapter 2 (Board of Mayor and Aldermen), Section 207 (Special Rules of Order) of the Municipal Code. The Board has also adopted Resolution No. 1932 (Rules and Procedures). The proposed Ordinance No. 1599 consolidates both sets of rules into one document and removes any sections that are already enacted in the Tullahoma Personnel Regulations, Tullahoma Municipal Code, and Tennessee Code Annotated.  Ordinance No. 1599 will allow the Board to have one set of rules adopted into the Municipal Code in addition to Robert’s Rules of Order,” in a meeting on Aug. 14.

City Administrator Kenneth Pearson gave background for this proposed ordinance.

“Mr. [Steve] Worsham actually brought this to us,” he said, and explained that this new ordinance would consolidate some conflicting rules. He said BoMA could amend or change it if needed, but they were just hoping to bring it to the board’s attention.

Several aldermen had issues with specific rules laid out in the new proposed ordinance.

Alderman Kurt Glick said “I see one change I think needs to be made right off the bat–on Rule 13, subcategory H–approval of the agenda. It says ‘items of the agenda may be added to the agenda with a two-thirds vote for members present,” he said, “I think that should just be a simple majority.”

His argument for the rule being changed was “[majority vote] is the way we’ve been doing it, now we’re changing it to two-thirds. [That] would be changing the rule as we’ve been applying it [thus far].”

Alderman Jenna Amacher said “I don’t like Rule No. 8, and I think everybody knows why. It’s too subjective!”

Rule No. 8 states “Decorum. Members must: A. Confine their remarks to the merits of the subject under discussion, and no outside conversation will be allowed; B. Maintain a courteous tone; C. Never attack nor make any allusion to the motives of other members.”

Amacher said she didn’t have a problem with the first part of A, but took issue with “no outside conversation will be allowed,” as it didn’t clarify exactly what that meant.

“First of all, [does that mean] no sidebar conversation?” she asked.

She said she just didn’t like the way it was worded. She also took issue with B, “maintain a courteous tone.”

“I’m told, as a member of this body, ‘Jenna, it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it,’ and I don’t like that,” she said, “I think that is subjective. You may think it’s uncourteous, and I might think it’s appropriate.”

She argued BoMA shouldn’t force City Attorney Worsham into being “the courtesy police,” and added “some of y’all are shiest at times, and you need to be called out, and I feel like that’s the purpose of open government.”

Worsham was then invited to speak.

“I suggested that we look at all these rules and procedures because we have three conflicting sets of rules and procedures now,” Worsham said, and he further suggested BoMA take a study session and look at the proposed ordinance in full before making a decision regarding it. He agreed with Amacher, that the wording in the Rule No. 8 section might be too subjective.

“Mr. Wilkins did a really good job of compiling these provisions from the three sets we have right now,” added Worsham.

He said he’d like BoMA to discuss the ordinance “so that we can have one set of rules from now on that we all agree on.”

Alderman Daniel Berry was then given the floor to speak.

“Yeah,” he said, “We’ve done this like six or eight times, so, at this point, I don’t mind–let’s make a motion to postpone until such time as we decide to bring it back.”

Amacher said she “would offer to make a friendly amendment.”

“Whatever it is, however she wants to word it, let’s do it,” said Berry.

“Oh, thanks, Daniel,” Amacher said, “You’re learning.”

“If you make a motion, I’ll second it,” Berry finished.

“I make a motion that we postpone until a study session can be scheduled for further discussion,” she said.

Berry seconded. The motion passed without opposition.