The South Bend Common Council’s Rules Committee will hold a public meeting Thursday to discuss complaints filed against council members. It’s a process that the council is bringing into the public eye for the first time.
City Clerk Bianca Tirado sent the notice to news media Tuesday. At 4 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chambers, the council’s Rules Committee, chaired by Canneth Lee, will meet for one agenda item: “Discussion on Pending Complaints Against Council Members.”
But which council members? Complaints about what and from whom?
Lee didn’t reply to WVPE’s request for comment.
And even though these council members presumably will be identified at the public meeting, Council Attorney Bob Palmer refused to identify them Tuesday when contacted by WVPE.
Local blogger Logan Foster and Black Lives Matter South Bend have filed complaints against Council Member Sharon McBride, arguing she hasn’t lived in her council district since 2020. McBride has denied the allegation and refuses to quit.
The council had been alerting the public that they were having closed door meetings, called executive session, to discuss those complaints last year. But Indiana Public Access Counselor Luke Britt in September told them the meetings must be public under state law, according to an email thread that WVPE has obtained.
