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The Council President Has Lost Control

The behavior of Lawrence City Councilors Nilka Alvarez and Julia Silverio at this week's Council meeting set the city back at least ten years. It has been no secret at city hall that the two Councilors don't get along. So contentious is the relationship between these two, that Council President Marcos Devers had to change committee assignments last month because they refused to be in the same room and work together.

To have City Councilors who have such hatred for each other that they refuse to work together on important city issues is a sign that one or both of them are in the wrong business. But, to have that hatred brought to the City Council table during a public meeting and engage in a swearing match with each other is beyond reprehensible.

The fight started when Councilor Silverio decided to abuse our public trust by baiting Councilor Alvarez into a fight while the whole city was watching and important city business was before the Council. Silverio started off by insulting Alvarez and whining like a five-year-old that her daughter was slighted at a sub committee meeting earlier in the week. Apparently she believed that her childish behavior was warranted because, after all, nobody slights the daughter of the great Julio Silverio.

As she wrapped up her abusive and inappropriate personal remarks, Alvarez showed no restraint in her response. Using language you might expect to hear at a truck stop, Councilor Alvarez completely lost control and launched into a diatribe of personal attacks and insults towards Silverio.

Fellow Councilors made a motion to recess the meeting so that tempers could cool down, but to my surprise, President Devers allowed the verbal melee to continue for at least a few more minutes before being forced to stop the meeting. At once, Alvarez began attacking a third Councilor for making the motion to recess the meeting as though she wasn't sure who to lash out at, randomly aiming her insults at anyone who dared to be noticed.

With a severe budget crunch facing the city, the possibility of layoffs and suspension of city services, the scandal at the CLVS, the possibility of the stadium being torn down, the school department running in a deficit and roads that are falling apart, Lawrence cannot afford to have the personal agendas of two City Councilors standing our way.

It was astounding to see grown women behaving so unprofessionally and doing so at such a critical time for our city. More astounding, however, was the fact that President Devers has completely lost control of his own meetings. This fight has been brewing for a long time and it is the responsibility of the Council President to stop other Councilors from using their position to throw personal insults at anyone.

You cannot be a nice guy and be an effective leader, period. As much as Councilors Alvarez and Silverio owe the public an apology (and maybe a resignation) President Devers must also take public responsibility for letting Councilor Silverio start the whole thing by endlessly hurling insults at a Councilor because of her personal hatred. By allowing that to happen he has shown his inability to lead.

This disgraceful display of bad behavior cannot go unpunished by the Council President or the public. The Council table is no place to air personal hatred. The people of Lawrence deserve better. Fellow Councilors deserve better. And quite frankly, Alvarez and Silverio should know better. If children behaved this way in a classroom they would be suspended from school. If two workers behaved this way in the business world they would both be fired. Unfortunately, the city charter does not allow Councilors to be recalled or suspended for abusing a public meeting.

What has to happen now, if we are going to get past all this and get back to city business is; President Devers must publicly admonish both Councilors and remove them from all sub committees for the remainder of their term. How can these two women be leaders in the community and represent our citizens when they cannot put aside their hatred for each other long enough to get city business done?

If President Devers does not act immediately and remove Alvarez and Silverio from all sub committees, then he is setting the stage for this to happen again. If he doesn't remove them, he is showing his lack of leadership and should be removed as Council President. The city has more than one crisis to solve at the Council level. To do so takes leadership and the ability to make tough decisions. The ball is in the Council Presidents' court. He alone can put a stop to it.

Put a stop to it Mr. President. Or this issue could put an end to your political career.