POUGHKEEPSIE – The Poughkeepsie Common Council held its 2021 reorganization meeting on Saturday. The virtual meeting was held in order to name council leadership, set the rules of the council, and establish a procurement policy, among other “housekeeping” items.
The Democratic-controlled body set the body’s leadership for the year by having Councilmember Sarah Brannen maintain her post as vice-chair, Councilwoman Lorraine Johnson will continue her role as majority leader and veteran lawmaker Natasha Cherry was named to the new position of majority whip.
Yvonne Flowers, a registered member of the Independence Party will continue as minority leader for the governing body.
Councilman Chris Petsas was replaced as chairman of the council’s finance committee. Representative Evan Menist will assume the responsibility of the committee.
When adopting the standing rules for the council for 2021, Salem has changed the format of the council’s meeting agenda by removing the “Mayor’s Comments” portion of the meeting. It was a long-standing policy of the council to have the sitting mayor provide a variety of updates at council meetings. The practice was eliminated in the fall of 2020. Many citizens denounced the decision, calling it a partisan move by Salem, a claim she denied.
Flowers noted that the 2021 rules do allow for the mayor to be invited to speak on specific topics if the chairperson chooses to do so. Lobbying to have the mayor returned to the agenda, Flowers said that senior citizens and others watching the meeting appreciated the mayor’s addresses. “Seniors enjoy listening to the mayor and getting updates,” said the Minority Leader. Flowers proposed allowing for the mayor to be given an opportunity once a month to give updates. Eighth ward councilman Matt McNamara also lobbied for the practice to return. Noting that Rolison gives recorded updates on Mid-Hudson News, McNamara pointed out that many households do not have internet access, making the recordings unavailable. Majority Leader Lorraine Johnson also expressed her support for the agenda item to return.
Salem agreed that comments from the mayor are valuable. “It’s important for him to have his comments targeted” around key topics such as updates on the pandemic, budget preparation, and specific projects. After a short debate, the rules were passed without the return of “Mayor’s Comments” to the regularly scheduled meeting agendas for 2021.
