The D.C. Council met behind closed doors to talk about its conduct and other personnel matters after a fall session that began this week with officials swearing and hurling insults at each other. Thursday afternoon’s meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was closed immediately after it opened with police officers escorting members of the news media out and standing guard at the door. During the voice vote to close the meeting, none of the nine council members present objected.
Chairman Kwame Brown said repeatedly after the meeting that officials discussed personnel matters, or, when asked to elaborate, “anything that has to do with anybody’s personal information.”
| The agenda | ||
| On tap for the closed-door session, according to a picture of the agenda from NBC 4: | ||
| I. Welcome | ||
| II. Close the meeting | ||
| III. Decorum & Communications | ||
| a. Council Breakfast & Dais | ||
| b. Council as an institution and its image | ||
| IV. Internal Code of Conduct | ||
| a. [line crossed out] | ||
| V. Financial Disclosures & [ ] for Members & Staff | ||
| VI. Other | ||
Brown said the meeting was not a direct response to Tuesday’s council session. In that meeting, the first of the fall session, legislators approved an income tax increase after a raucous debate that prompted veteran Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans to compare the experience to “Alice in Wonderland.” In a council breakfast before that meeting, one member swore at one another.
“I didn’t call the meeting to discuss about using profanity,” Brown said, adding, “I don’t think anyone should use profanity at all.”
A photo of the meeting agenda shot by NBC 4 shows that the council’s behavior and communication — including the council breakfast — was included in the agenda.
When asked about the council’s behavior, Brown said, “We should always have decorum to make sure the institution is protected.”
The nature of the council’s behavior earlier in the week caused some consultants to say someone needed to step up and rein the council in. On Thursday after the closed-door meeting ended, council members either refused to talk about what was discussed or echoed Brown’s summary of “personnel matters.”
However, the necessity of closing the entire meeting was “a gray area,” Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells said as he left the session. Wells left after about 30 minutes for a committee hearing and said that up to that point, “no personal information was disclosed that I think would embarrass anyone.”
He said the council had spent that part of the meeting discussing the laws of ethics disclosures.
At least one police officer was stationed outside the private meeting for its duration.
