Rochester council member says her ejection from meeting was an 'abuse of power'

May 21—ROCHESTER — Rochester City Council member Molly Dennis is questioning whether her expulsion from Monday's meeting was in line with established rules.

"Myself and other citizens do not believe any at-large councilmember has assumed absolute power to banish their council peers because of minor infractions, unable to be challenged," she wrote in an email sent to three elected officials and 21 city staff members on Tuesday morning. "I would like to see where in our city's policies or in Roberts Rules gives this inalienable authority to the presiding officer alone."

Dennis was told to leave Monday's council meeting after repeated warnings by Council President Brooke Carlson, who cited disruptive behavior during a discussion of whether to take collection action on nearly $870,000 in unpaid parking tickets .

The Ward 6 council member consented to leave but said she felt the actions violated "Robert's Rules of Order," a published guide for conducting meetings.

While the commonly used guideline states the presiding officer does not impose penalties for misbehavior during a meeting, City Clerk Kelly Geistler said Robert's Rules is not the City Council's guiding document.

"Robert's Rules is the secondary document to our own adopted rules," she said, pointing to the City Council's rules of procedure , which the council most recently approved in a 6-1 vote Nov. 22, 2023. (Dennis cast the one "no" vote.)

As a result, Robert's Rules are only used when the council rules don't address an issue.

The local rules state: "Any other member of the council may, under a point of order, call the presiding officer or other member to order. Additional discipline may include, but is not limited to, a verbal admonition, public reprimand, and expulsion from the meeting at which the conduct is occurring."

Under the local rules, a vote of the council would only be required if a member objects to the council president's decision, which didn't occur Monday.

"By us not saying anything, (it) means we confirm what the president says, and we have to back the president on our rules," council member Shaun Palmer said Monday, following Dennis' expulsion from the meeting. "They are our rules; they are not anyone else's rules."

Dennis has repeatedly pointed out during past meetings that she cast the sole vote against adopting the rules, which include other deviations from Robert's Rules.

When it comes to Monday's discussion, Dennis said she believes her questions about policy related to dismissing parking tickets were justified, since part of the council action included a blanket dismissal of unpaid tickets issued between 2015 and 2017.

Geistler said the requested dismissal was partly due to challenges related to tracking down tickets issued to vehicles after seven years, since the state requires new license plates to be issued during that period.

The city clerk and Carlson agreed that questions about tracking dismissals outside Monday's request were not germane to the issue at hand, but Dennis continued to ask how dismissed tickets are handled, eventually stating, "We do not, as a city, track tickets that are dismissed."

In her email on Tuesday, Dennis stated that repeating questions and unintentionally interrupting others is linked to her attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis, "due to a working memory deficit."

She apologized for the interruptions and called Carlson's response an "abuse of power," asking for information on how to file an ethics complaint with the city's Ethical Practices Board. She stopped short of saying she plans to file a complaint.

Any complaints filed with the board are initially reviewed by the seven members, who determine whether the complaint requires additional action. If the board rules a violation exists, the council typically determines whether discipline is warranted for elected officials.

According to the council's rules, the expulsion of someone from a meeting doesn't affect their ability to attend future meetings.

While a rare expulsion of a resident from a City Council meeting occurred last year, a council member hasn't been ejected from a meeting in recent history.