The South Bend Common Council Rules Committee held a rare public meeting Friday to address a complaint filed against council President Canneth Lee. One committee member said the system is flawed and needs to be changed.
The city has a 1977 ordinance detailing how the council should handle citizen complaints filed against members. It calls for the council attorney to conduct a preliminary investigation and decide whether there’s probable cause to investigate further. At the Rules Committee’s brief meeting Friday, council attorney Bob Palmer never said what the complaint, saying he wanted to maintain as much confidentiality as possible.
But from the context of what Palmer did say, it was apparently about a complaint filed by a local citizen alleging that Lee had violated city code by selling puppies that were too young on Facebook. Palmer said he found no probable cause.
Committee member Troy Warner said the process needs to change.
“There’s no vetting process," Warner said. "Somebody could file a complaint and saying that council member Smith was on an airplane with Trump and Epstein and went to Epstein’s island, and this committee would have to have a hearing on that complaint. This process needs to be addressed. We need to fix it.”
