As if to make certain everyone knows that the proposed Safety Review Board is a work in progress, the Greensboro city clerk’s office revised the City Council agenda again at 5:22 pm. on Monday, Dec. 20.
This was the third revision of the agenda on the day before the Tuesday, Dec. 21 meeting. The second was to change the time to 4:30 p.m. The first revision of the day was to add the Safety Review Board to the agenda, with a proposed resolution supporting the Safety Review Board for the City Council to consider. In the agenda that was posted on the city website on Thursday, December 16, there was no item concerning the Safety Review Board.
Mayor Nancy Vaughan said last week that the creation of the Safety Review Board made up entirely of city employees did not require any City Council action to be established.
Vaughan also said that there would be an “ad hoc” member from the bar and restaurant industry on the Safety Review Board. However, in the agenda attachments there was no mention of anyone from the bar and restaurant industry being a member of the Safety Review Board.
And that appears to be the reason for the re-revised agenda in which a fifth member is added to the Safety Review Board. The earlier version had four city employees, the newest version adds “A Peer Business Owner” to the Safety Review Board members.
But adding that peer business owner does create some new problems. The “peer business owner” was added to the “City of Greensboro Safety Review Board Rules of Procedure Manual.” The title page of that manual states, “Version 1 Adopted August 2021.” But the version presented to the City Council at the meeting is not “Version 1” and is not the version adopted in August, which had a four-member Safety Review Board.
The Rules of Procedure Manual also specifically states how the other four members will be appointed. However, the Rules of Procedure Manual is silent on who appoints the peer business owner or how that appointee will be selected.
The latest revision also makes the Rules of Procedure Manual inconsistent with the “Standard Operating Procedure City of Greensboro Safety Review Board,” which was emailed to city councilmembers last week. The Standard Operation Procedure document under definitions states, “‘Safety Review Board’ shall mean and refer to a four (4) person board. The Safety Review Board shall be a 4-member panel …”
But not anymore, now according to the Rules of Procedure Manual it is a five-member board with one member appointed by some unknown person or group.
So one question inquiring minds might want to know is which is the ruling document, the “Standard Operating Procedure City of Greensboro Safety Review Board” or the “City of Greensboro Safety Review Board Rules of Procedure Manual”?
Another obvious question is, who appoints this “peer business owner” and who gets to determine who makes that appointment?
How soon does the “benevolent” city overlords shut the bars down for good?
Wake up City voters. If it’s on the current City Council, vote it to the curb. It’s past time to end these kinds of shell games.
Naw…they won’t shut them down. Didn’t you hear? There’s going to be a social zone so folks can tipple their way thru the streets and absolutely NO ONE will be accountable. My goodness the animals are in charge of the ZOO.
Sloppy and incomplete work from Mandate Mayor and city employees. For shame all these Christmas week shenanigans. Our city lawyer and staff are too complicit in allowing Mandate Mayor to trample or dismantle legal frameworks and setup questionable situations about notice, content, and ordinances that are not enforceable or blatantly unconstitutional (the proposed gun show ban, speech and panhandling restrictions for example).
Also if Safety is the concern why areally all city events and venues exempted? Plenty of crime has occurred including murders at coliseum events.
Love how Hammer keeps our local leaders in check! Great job Rhino! Keep asking the right questions!
OK, This is the group that wants to allow people to walk all around the downtown with alcoholic beverages in their cups.
There are some real thinkers in this posse.Greensboro is sliding.