The Pima Town Council took a proactive stance in regard to how it conducts its business and heard a presentation from League of Arizona Cities and Towns Deputy Director Tom Belshe at its Tuesday meeting.

Belshe gave an hourlong presentation on the role of a municipality's council and several "hot button" issues, including the Open Meeting Law and the conflict of interest statute.

He said the role of a municipality's attorney is especially important to a council/manager form of government.

Tom Belshe speaks about the role of a municipality's council and the laws it must abide by during the Pima Town Council's meeting. Photo by Jon Johnson

Belshe said councilors need to learn how to come to consensus decisions with each other and make tough decisions.

"Sometimes you (councilors) may have constituents that are very close to you – people that you trust and admire out in the community – that may be wrong on an issue," he said. "And you know because of information you have access to as a council member that you have to make a certain decision that you know is going to be unpopular. That's your duty as a council member."

Belshe also went over several rules councils must follow, including the Open Meeting Law, stating conflicts of interest, nepotism, public records, rules against council members meeting as a quorum without posting it, not abusing its executive session ability and honoring its call to the public if a council has one.

He said the Open Meeting Law was made to ensure the public's business was done in public and any standing committee the council appoints needs to follow it. Belshe added it was always better for a council to err on the side of caution.

"Be careful about what the public perceives about your behavior," he said. "It's when their perception is bad that things start to go in the wrong direction. You always want to avoid the appearance of evil."

Additionally, there are several ways a council can violate rules regarding meeting as a quorum. He said if a mayor merely communicates with other councilors about city business separately outside of the council meeting, he is violating the law. Belshe gave an example of a councilor or mayor sending an e-mail asking other councilors their opinion on a subject of business. He said when that happens, the council made a debate about a topic not in public and violated the Open Meeting Law.

In speaking about having a conflict of interest, Belshe said having a conflict was not bad; not declaring it was. He said the best thing for a councilor to do was to declare the conflict and leave the room during discussion and voting. Violations of the conflict of interest statute can result in one and a half years’ imprisonment and a maximum fine of $150,000. The mayor or councilor would also be forced to forfeit the office immediately.

Councils also must allow a person to speak during the allotted time designated for a call to the public if the council has one.

"You have to honor that," he said. "If it's on the agenda, and if they filled out a paper – they've done everything – you have to give them the same allotted amount of time that you give other people."

Entering into an executive session is one of the powers most abused by councils, according to Belshe. He said some councils will say they are going into executive session to receive information from their attorney and then not ask the attorney any questions.

"Executive session is not an excuse to get away from public scrutiny of your decisions," Belshe said.

In conclusion, Belshe praised the Pima Town Council and its town manager, Gerald Schmidt, for their handling of town business. He said they have, for the most part, followed the rules councils must abide by.