Mayor Ann Thane issued an executive order on Thursday requiring city employees to follow certain procedures when receiving requests for meetings or other information from a common council member.
The executive order reads:
AUTHORITY: CHARTER SECTIONS C35(A), C37
PURPOSE: To establish a procedure regulating the interactions between city employees and council members.EXECUTIVE ORDER:
All City Employees are directed to comply with the following procedure:
- The executive power of the City of Amsterdam is vested in the office of the Mayor. Unfortunately, due to various political factors, the informal relationship between council members and city employees can be subject to abuse and has caused disruption to the administration of government.
- All requests for meetings between council members and any employee to discuss policy, the work performance of any employee, or department operations are to be made through the Mayor’s Office. No employee is to meet with a council member to discuss policy, the work performance of any employee, or department operations without prior approval of the Mayor.
- All requests for information, either written or verbal, made by a council member to an employee are to be copied to the Mayor’s Office or the substance of the verbal request is to be summarized and provided to the Mayor’s Office. Any response to such an inquiry is to be provided to the Mayor’s Office. Any requests for information that will require greater than 15 minutes of work time to prepare shall not be provided without prior approval of the Mayor.
