a communication from Councillor Kelley, regarding the City Council's use of suspending our Council rules to accept late Policy Orders that lack a urgent time constraint

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL Craig A. Kelley City Councillor January 2, 2018 Dear Mayor McGovern, Vice Mayor Devereux and fellow Councilors: As many of you know, I am not comfortable with the Council's habit of suspending our Council rules to accept late Orders that lack a urgent time constraint. I feel that the Council's unnecessarily discussing and voting on such Orders with little or no advance notice to either the Council or the general public circumvents the transparency that is required for a democracy to maintain its integrity. Accordingly, I plan to "Charter Right" all late Orders prior to discussion, if possible, and certainly prior to voting unless there is some compelling reason that they must be discussed and voted on at the meeting in which they are introduced. That being said, I look forward to a productive, if challenging, term with all of you. Sincerely, Craig CITY HALL, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS 02139 [phone removed] FAX [phone removed] TTY/TDD: [phone removed] EMAIL: ckelley@cambridgema.gov