(bumped to top by request...thanks for all the positive emails and feedback -ctb.)

From time to time, people ask me how a particular item, such as an ordinance, becomes law. Most people don't understand the process in which an item becomes a law; most people think that all the hard work is done during the Common Council meeting when that's not the case.

For instance, here's a CLEAR example of an ordinance which was hotly debated prior to the Common Council vote.

This month, yet another ordinance was passed be the council and this particular piece of legislation had to do with the removal of debris. Although debris includes such items as leaves and such, I'm going to concentrate on the part of the ordinance that pertains to snow removal.

In layman's terms, the city has a problem with a handful of snow removal contractors who push snow into the street. I'm not going to get into any detail in terms of who does this nonsense and where it happens (just think of places that have parking lots for instance), you can learn all about it by watching the debates in the following videos.

According to the public works department, this has been an ongoing problem for sometime so they came up with a proposal that will fine any homeowner who pushes snow into the street 90 dollars. This means if you have someone plow your driveway and they push snow into the street, YOU the homeowner will be responsible and fined accordingly.

Sounds kind of silly on face value right? Well, that's why we have a process in place in the city where members of the common council as well as members of the public can offer their input, which in turn allows people an opportunity to change laws before their submitted for approval. In the case of the debris ordinance, what was finally passed during the December Common Council meeting was somewhat different than what was proposed.

Although I'm still not in total agreement with the final outcome (and the fact that this particular council has a history of passing too many useless unenforceable ordinance which are based more on politics than necessity), hopefully because of the compromised amendments added to this proposal, this will be a rarely used ordinance and no homeowner will ever have to pay a fine.

Now this post is going to be rather long...in fact, if you watch all the video, it's going to be VERY LONG...BUT if you really want to know how something becomes law, this is it.

Okay, so you want to see non-partisan local democracy in action? Here we go.

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Step 1: The Ad-Hoc committee

After a ordinance is proposed, it usually goes to what's called an ad-hoc committee for review. The term ad-hoc means "for this purpose"; therefore, an ad-hoc committee is established by the common council to focus on examining a specific subject on behalf of the entire common council. The ad-hoc committee is usually reflective of the make-up of the council which means that it's usually conducted by a Republican and has Democratic minority representation (this is due in large part by the fact that the Republicans control the council by a 2/3 veto-proof majority).

You following me so far? Okay, lets move on.

Back in October, the ad-hoc committee met to discuss the removal of debris ordinance proposal and there was some rather heated debate on this issue. Concerns over the ordinance ranged from the ordinance in general being a hardship on taxpaying homeowners, to debate over how the ordinance going to be enforced. In a somewhat rare case, the items of disagreement didn't fall along party lines (which is why following this particular ordinance should be informative to all who want to have an understanding on how things COULD and SHOULD be done in the city if politics was removed from the equation).

Pay particular attention to Councilman Fred Visconti and Gregg Seabury's remarks as this items will come up again in other meetings.

NOTE: Video starts about 5 minutes into the meeting...

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Step 2: The public hearing

After an ad-hoc committee is done, the next step (in most cases) is the proposal going to what's called a public meeting and committee of the whole. In a nutshell, a public hearing is where the public can offer input and their opinion on a the proposal and a committee of the whole is exactly what it sounds like, a committee of the entire common council.

During the public hearing, members of the public offer their input on the proposals and in some cases, the comments from the public can have an impact of the minds of the council. I'm going to skip the public's input because for the most part, the comments were pointless. I've already posted about the offensive and idiotic remarks offered from the racist email xenophobe Pauline Basso (who's rant just about pissed off everyone on the council). The other comment offered by Lynn Waller is not really worth mentioning within this post because a.) someone like her should have known the answer to her concern regarding why the city picking up certain leaves on certain streets and b.) she didn't give the the Common Council the common courtesy of listening to the entire debate as she (accompanied by her BFF Basso) walked out before the head of the public works answered her concern. If requested, I'll do a separate post on Waller just as I did Basso.

Okay, here's footage of the committee of the whole discussing the ad-hoc committee's review of the ordinance. Again, remember the concerns from Councilman Seabury and Visconti as well as my concern that this is yet another ordinance that places a burden on property owners on the city and how that was worked out by minority leader Tom Saadi's amendment to the ordinance. Other tidbits which really have noting to do with the ordinance but made for some inside baseball drama was the way in which Councilwoman Coleen Stanley is dismissed by Common Council President Joe Cavo and the way in which he didn't allowed her to speak any further on the item (I'm sure that led to some type of discussion after the meeting).

(WARNING: Video is about 1 hour in length)



Now, as you can tell from the video, the concerns from the ad-hoc committee flowed over to the committee of the whole and minority leader Saadi's amendment offered some clarity to the overall ordinance, which in turn led to the ordinance being approved.

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Part 3: The Common Council vote

Okay, here we are. This is the part of the show where most people see on T.V. or read about in the newspaper...the final vote and approval from the Common Council which makes the ordinance law.

As in the committee of the whole, the public is offered an opportunity to speak in favor or against the item, which could persuade members of the council in their vote. In this case, although there was no one from the public speaking on this ordinance, minority leader Saadi took the time to discuss the amendment for the members of the public who watch the meeting on TV.

Here's a copy of the minutes from the committee of a whole as well as the copy of the ordinance which was voted on.



NOTE: Due to a screw-up by the person responsible for the city's government channel, Ted "you're doing a heck of a job" Cutsumpas, the meeting was not recorded. Unless someone recorded the live broadcast, my footage is the only copy of what happened...and unfortunately, I didn't record the entire meeting. NOTE: If you recorded the meeting when it was broadcasted live on Tuesday, please get in contact with the city of Danbury so that they can copy the tape and re-broadcast it on the air).

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Okay, there you go! That's basically how democracy works in Danbury.

To review:

• Something gets proposed (in this case, an ordinance)


• If needed, an ad-hoc committee is set up to evaluate the ordinance


• A committee of the whole is established to look over the ad-hoc committee's recommendation and a public hearing is set up where people can offer their input


• Finally, the recommendation of the committee of the whole is brought to the attention of the Common Council at their next scheduled meeting where the proposal can be voted upon and either approved, rejected, or sent back to ad-hoc for further review

Basically how an ordinance becomes a law in Danbury. It's important to note that an item can stay in ad-hoc committee for an indefinite amount of time...this is basically how the city kills a proposal and I'll get into that subject at a later time.

For those in my generation, if you remember the following video, you have basic understanding on how things are done on the local level (although the mayor doesn't have veto power, he, like the president of the US Senate, can only vote when there is a tie on the common council. Also, in relation to a veto, the people can force what's called a referendum on any ordinance after it's passed but the process is rather complicated and this post is long enough as it is).