Did the Town Council chairman John Farrell suggest restricting the First Amendment rights of individual councilors to speak outside of a Town Council Meeting Monday night on 6/29/2020? The chairman stated the only proper place for a councilor to speak on town issues is at a Town Council Meeting
At Monday nights Town Council Meeting the chairman asked for a motion to adjourn, after the motion was made he went on to read a written ‘Fiscal Year Closing Statement,
The beginning of the statement thanked town staff for the hard work and extra effort while dealing with COVID and setting goals for councilors.
The statement went on to address the behavior of Town Councilors
This is a direct quote:
“At the same time the council needs to recognize that we have seen during the last few months an element of distrust and instances of incivility that reflect poorly on all of us. As we turn the page to the new fiscal year we need to return to our focus, to our commitment to Londonderry the people we represent. we need to establish a smoother path to a long term success. There will be times when we may resemble a team of rivals, sometimes it promotes good decision making, however we need to be able to exchange opinions and resolve conflict in a productive professional manner, while always focusing on the people who elected us to serve.
Personal agendas have no place in this discussion, neither social media nor local newspaper is a proper place for a councilor to express the councilors opinion about town issues. The ONLY PROPER PLACE is here, in the town council chambers, at a town council meeting, so if you have something to say, bring it here.
The town council reaches decision as a body, there is no ‘I win’. The councils only goal must be to make Londonderry the best place to live that it can be, then everybody wins, we all win. Let’s resolve to all be better. Particularly during these challenging times let show Londonderry that we are the leaders of the community they had elected us to be, let do it together. We have a lot coming in front of us here in the next few months. It’s just the way it supposed to be done. So I thank you for that and adjourn we’ll see you in July”