Council members passed the rule nearly two months ago; it has sparked a federal lawsuit by the first man arrested for disobeying it.
The ramifications of the rule became clear Monday night when three city men, describing themselves as the Middletown Brotherhood, complained minority contractors are still not getting their share of area projects.
A similar complaint was made before the council a year ago. The only result, said Hampton Watson Jr. of H.W. General Construction, was a minority contractor getting a small share of the state courthouse project.
"We send people to jobs, there's no response, no help," he said. "I raise the issue of favoritism, racism, whatever. We need someone in the city we can go to."
Watson's presentation, however, was interrupted by Corporation Counsel Domenique Thorton's now-ritual warning that he had only one minute left.
Thorton asked whether Watson could continue speaking for the entire group and therefore use the other men's time.
Minority Leader Joseph E. Milardo Jr. objected, saying such an interpretation could be open to abuse. Someone could represent 10 people and speak for 50 minutes, he said.
"We have to apply the rules in a fair manner," Milardo said.
Watson listened while Thorton, Milardo and Deputy Mayor Nancy Conaway-Raczka addressed the procedural issue. Then he spoke.
He said he had wondered whether the man fatally shot early Saturday morning on East Main Street, 30-year-old Jerold Bonner, might have been the same man asking him for a job two weeks ago.
"I think we're missing something as a whole," Watson said about the five-minute rule. "If I had work available for that young man who had nothing to do but get in trouble, he probably would be alive today."
The council seemed more concerned about two or three minutes than a man's life, Watson said. "We asked for help and now another life is gone. We need help," he said.
Majority Leader John Robinson began asking questions. Gerald Daley, a council member, started to ask about federal, state and local government policies for hiring minority contractors.
Milardo interrupted again.
"We can't do this, we're under a lawsuit," he said. "We're breaking the rules."
Conaway-Raczka, leading the meeting in place of the absent Mayor Thomas J. Serra, agreed with Milardo, although Daley got to make his remark.
"I can't believe it," said Earl White of E. White Construction Co. "You sit here and worry about some rule when we tell you a young man died a couple of nights ago. . . . All I'm hearing is rules."
White walked out of the chamber.
Sydney Libby got dragged out.
Libby, whose charges and accusations prompted the council to enact the five-minute rule in the first place, was removed by Patrolman William Clayton after Conaway-Raczka ruled him out of order.
Libby had launched into what seemed to be a criticism of Wheelabrator Environmental Systems Inc., the company building the Lisbon trash-to-energy plant. He read a newspaper clipping about Wheelabrator's parent company, and moved on to whether a meeting notice had been properly posted.
Libby refused to give up the speaker's seat when his time expired.
Libby, who was not arrested, returned later to the chamber. But when he spoke again, he was seated in a new speaker's chair, this one with wheels. He finished on time.
3 comments:
When they were alive, Sid Libby and Frank Losacco made some legitimate points about corrupt City of Middletown government. Some of there issues were real, but most were the rantings and ravings of two individuals just seeking the lime light.
If they had just stuck to the issues, and eliminated their insanely malicious attacks on some of the local politicians, they may have made a positive impact on the City and helped clean up the corruption still existing today. Instead, all we remember them for is a silly five minute rule.
Sidney was not a responsible person. He used to threaten Councilmen with possible attacks with an Uzzi (Israeli automatic weapon.). Filing Freedom of Information complaints is not a sign of a responsible person. In Sidney's case he was making a point that even an idiot can abuse the system and get away with it. He was eventully barred from abusing the system. As far as his claims of corruption they never held any water. Middletown Eye should dig deeper and not be impressed with quantity of abuse- measure the results. The five minute rule was an unfortunate result. Public hearings at Middletown Council meetings used to play an imporant role in responsible public commentary prior to Mr. Libby. As a result of the personal and vindictive nature of rantings from both Mr. Libby and later Mr. Caracoglia the rules were changed.
I was a Middletown Press reporter when Frank and Sid were in their prime. On a number of occasions, they barged into the newsroom and threatened reporters with physical violence, usually the inexperienced women, not the seasoned or male reporters. More than once the police were called to remove them. To portray Sidney and Frank as anything but at misguided, but probably more accurate as suffering serious mental problems, would be a distortion of the truth.
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