Scottsdale Councilman Barry Graham is at odds with Mayor David Ortega, saying the latter is using his authority to shut the councilor down during meetings.
At the same time, the mayor contends …
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Scottsdale Councilman Barry Graham is at odds with Mayor David Ortega, saying the latter is using his authority to shut the councilor down during meetings.
At the same time, the mayor contends he is trying to keep meetings moving and keep councilors on topic, something he says Graham has struggled with.
Graham, who took a seat on council at the beginning of the year, said he doesn’t feel silenced by Ortega, but also said the mayor seems to interpret it as his authority to stop council members’ speech on the dais in order to keep them on topic “unevenly” in order to target him.
Ortega, on the other hand, said he is trying to keep discussion on topic and attributed Graham’s feelings to inexperience.
“I have seven years of experience on city council, in contrast to Councilman Graham’s seven months,” Ortega said via text to the Daily Independent. “He had a rocky start because several council members told me and I observed that he was texting during meetings — a breech of council rules. I quietly reminded him after a meeting that using an iPad device to follow the agenda is okay, but exparte communication, texting, is a violation of Arizona statutes, the open meeting law."
Ortega said as mayor he is the meeting’s presiding officer and designated to manage the flow of the meeting, ensure speakers stay on topic for the posted agenda item.
“Also, per rules, I recognize every member to speak before returning for second round comments. I am always available to discuss council rules, especially with the newest member,” Ortega said.
The question is what can be construed as off topic during conversations on the dais.
The July 11 city council meeting is the most recent example of Ortega cutting off Graham on grounds he was getting off topic.
Graham pulled an item appropriating an additional $4.9 million for the police department’s new training facility off the consent agenda to discuss it.
The project’s original cost, as was proposed to voters in the 2019 bond was $4.2 million, but the final cost is coming in closer to $20.4 million. Graham, despite having had this conversation at council meetings before, started asking staff why the project was coming in so far over budget.
Ortega cut him off, saying Graham was getting off topic.
“Our city engineer is not here to discuss bond issues, how it was written, when it was written,” Ortega said. “These are professionals who are executing the building you just spoke of. We all know it is needed and the agendized item in particular is regarding construction (contract).”
Ortega then told Graham he could conduct an audit to get to the root of his question, but it was not part of the night’s agenda.
That didn’t sit well with Graham.
“We are being asked to approve an increase in funding so I’m trying to get information why,” Graham said. “This is absolutely relevant and you’re trying to cut off debate.”
The two continued the argument for several minutes before Graham finally yielded on the issue.
The council ultimately voted unanimously on approval of the money, but the exchange was not an isolated incident between Ortega and Graham.
For instance, Ortega did the same thing twice during the council’s May 16 meeting discussing road lane reductions and Graham began asking very specific questions about the lane reduction project on 68th Street.
Ortega told him the topic was not 68th Street but lane reductions in general.
“People talk about this is not a safe street or something like that, is this the least safe street in the city or are there streets that are less safe?” Graham said.
To which Ortega replied, “You’re again asking an irrelevant question that has nothing and no bearing on what we are generally speaking about.”
Councilman Tom Durham, who sits next to Graham on the dais, laughed at the question, which drew Graham’s ire.
“You can scoff at it, Tom,” Graham said. “I don’t appreciate you scoffing at it.”
But Graham reluctantly agreed to drop the subject.
“Let me just back up a little bit then because it sounds like we don’t want to drill into 68th Street even though many of my colleagues have brought it up, but that’s fine,” Graham said.
Despite the difference of opinions, Graham doesn’t believe he has a bad relationship with the mayor.
“I think the mayor and my relationship is the least interesting part in this,” he said.
The tension isn’t likely to ease anytime soon though.
“I have no intention in the future to limiting my questions,” Graham said.
J. Graber can be reached at jgraber@iniusa.org. We invite our readers to submit their civil comments pro or con on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
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