City Council Minutes 1982 11 03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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11/3/82 Page -13- Councilman Cummings Commented it is every citizen's right or every group's right to do this; and perhaps if he were one of the residents in the neigh- borhood surrounding the Neodata proposal he would be on their side. This is their right. When this issue was brought before Council, who represent the entire City - not 400 people - made a decision; therefore felt they needed to adhere to that decision as an entire City, representing the entire City; and should not ask an independent judgement to find out if the decision was correct. In his opinion this was a show of lack of competence_on the part of Councilmembers. It was his opinion if a Declaratory Judgement was sought it would be a confirmation that a mistake was made. He did not believe a mistake was made and would not support the request. Councilman Leary Directed his comment to the precedent issue, by stating that being consistent does not mean that you say yes every time , if you say yes once, or that you say no every time , it essentially says that you use the same kind of criteria and that you evaluate each situa- tion in a consistent manner. The decision can be different with each issue. He felt that 400 citizens were more than half the citizens voting in a Ward, he felt it would be legimate to seek the Declaratory Judgement. He did not feel that if the Council had a 7-0 vote on an issue then it would not be legi- mate to seek the action. It was his opinion that he felt it did fit the zoning; however he had a bias for various reasons, felt that Director Rupp had a bias be they items that are effecting his judgement that are clearly not necessarily because of or stimulated by this exact case, it may be something he brings with him from his professional background, etc. which removes his objectivity somewhat. He felt that Council should discuss how they will approach a similar issue in the future. Realized this issue has created problems for the City Attorney. He supported the request to seek a Declaratory Judgement and stated if the use is correct Council has no concern unless there is a real fear that the Court is going to make an error. It was his hope that the Judge is an objective individual and make an objective judgement.