Similar to other Northern Kentucky cities, Florence officials have had difficult conversations this year. From Flock Safety cameras to bike regulations and zoning amendments — the city has discussed a number of issues stemming from public input.
Even so, the city has canceled nearly half of its scheduled regular meetings. They’ve replaced most of them with special meetings, but because of the way those meetings work, residents have not been able to give public comments in over a month. Councilmember Angie Cable said she’s heard complaints from residents after the council votes on a change.
“There are a lot of decisions that I believe deserve public input, and I believe not a lot of time is given to notify the community to get the response we need,” she said. “So we get a lot of complaints after something has been passed or a discussion in regards to certain things.”
Pursuant to city law, by the end of October the council should have had 20 business meetings this year; these are meetings where they vote on law changes and project proposals. However, nine of those meetings have been cancelled. On top of the 11 regularly scheduled meetings, the council has met in special meetings eight times.
“In general, it's not a common thing,” said Darrin Wilson, a public administration professor at Northern Kentucky University. “You do not see that very often where a local government regularly cancels its city council or fiscal court meetings on a regular basis, especially the ones that are already pre-planned.”
Florence’s last regularly-scheduled business meeting was Aug. 25. The last opportunity for public comment was Sept. 15, at a city caucus meeting, where two residents had comments on Flock cameras and public works projects.
City ordinance states the council shall meet every Tuesday of the month: the first and third for caucus meetings and the second and fourth for business meetings.
Florence Mayor Julie Metzger Aubuchon said even though the city is scheduled for about 48 meetings a year, many will be cancelled if they fall on a holiday or during an event week.
“We will also not have a meeting on nights where we have a holiday in that week because our meetings are very labor-intensive for our staff, and it requires a lot of prep for every single meeting,” she said.
Aubuchon said she cancelled the past three business meetings in September and October because of Labor Day, a Kentucky League of Cities conference and Columbus Day.
“Those are very long-standing practices,” she added. “They pre-date my time as mayor.”
But besides not allowing public comment, special meetings are governed under Kentucky law by strict rules that restrict discussion to topics not on the agenda.
“When we have a special meeting — it is not my law, it's not my doing — it is the state law that dictates that you can only speak about the things that are listed on a special meeting,” Aubuchon said.
That was on display during a special meeting on Oct. 6, where the police chief was scheduled to give an update on Flock cameras.
After the Flock camera updates, councilmember Cable tried asking questions but Aubuchon stopped her from speaking; Aubuchon said later it was because the agenda didn’t include discussion. The meeting was adjourned shortly after.
Professor Wilson said it’s unusual for council members to not get to speak at special meetings.
“In any type of legislative meeting like this, whether it's regularly scheduled or an emergency meeting, members of the legislative body have absolutely every right to ask questions,” he said.
Cable said it’s not uncommon for the city to cancel caucus meetings and hold special meetings instead — since you can’t vote on agenda items at caucus meetings.
Still, Wilson said while it’s not illegal to cancel meetings and replace them with special meetings, not scheduling time for public comment can be harmful to public trust.
“Transparency should always be a top priority for any local government,” he said. “Hopefully these meetings were canceled for legitimate good reasons and not to go around transparency and stifle people's ability to provide input.”
State law also states cities must only give 24-hour public notice when a special meeting is scheduled. Since the mayor typically calls all meetings, Cable said the council typically doesn’t get much longer of a notice.
At the last special meeting Oct. 20, called a day ahead of time, the city heard arguments for a controversial zone amendment and annexation proposal — but only one city council member attended. Cable was surprised the meeting went forth regardless.
“Transparency is used a lot,” she said. “It's kind of a buzzword that I feel is used as a way of saying it's occurring, but it's not truly occurring. Residents cannot get up to speak, but yet a developer can.”
Aubuchon said the intention was never to cause “chaos” by cancelling meetings — and that residents have always been able to reach out via call or email.
Cable said residents have told her that is not enough. She said the city's social media accounts restricting comment sections and the lack of public comment at meetings have driven resident’s concerns.
“They feel as though not only are they not being heard, or answers are not being provided because the comments are turned off,” she said. “We now have also set the meetings so that residents cannot get up and ask questions on public record.”
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