Tony Wilkins: A Reliable Source

 I found the following conversation between Councilman Tony Wilkins and Andy Stevens on Andy Stevens' Facebook page that seems to cast some doubt on the handling of speakers from the floor at the recent Greensboro City Council meeting at which our Mayor Nancy Barakat Vaughan claimed overwhelming opposition to House Bill 163 from the citizens of Greensboro. Click on the screen grab to view full size.

Now it's long been common practice to require that all speakers from the floor to sign up before City Council meetings begin-- not after a resolution is being discussed. And all speakers from the floor must fill out forms. Manipulating speakers on the part of Council Members must surely be against the rules. So I sent the following public information request just moments ago:

"Please send me copies of all of the sign-up forms filled out by speakers from the floor from the last City Council meeting in which the decision to file suit over House Bill 163 was decided.

Thanks -Billy Jones"

Everyone who speaks is required to fill out a form. It might not be that I can find anyone who filled out forms late but any who failed to sign up should turn up. Methinks time stamps should be required to prevent this sort of tampering on the part of Council.

I quickly got back the following automatically generated e-mail:

"Your public record request for Speak Easy has been referred to the proper department for response. Thank you for your request.

If you have any questions, please call 373-CITY (2489) or email the above email address and reference Speak Easy along with your email address.
All public record requests and their updates can be viewed at www.greensboro-nc.gov/PIRT."

We'll see how long it takes for the City to manufacture these public records.