Olver’s Request Take a Backseat
A request initiated by City Councilor Rich Olver has been taken off the schedule, outside of normal Council procedures. Olver requested a study session for the Terumo BCT ethylene oxide emissions in 2023. According to Olver, the study session will no longer be scheduled, after Mayor Strom asked the Ward 1 Councilors if this was something they were interested in pursuing. Apparently, they were not. As a result, the Council approval for a study session has been overruled. This is an irregular procedure.
As previously reported in the Lakewood Informer news, Councilman Olver has renewed his request for this study session multiple times, including again recently. Unlike other Council Members whose requests are regularly approved, Olver does not usually get approval so this initiative caught attention as something other councilors would actually listen to.
However, when Olver asked about the status, Mayor Strom responded that she checked with Ward 1 Councilors and they didn’t think it was necessary. Comments from Ward 1 Councilors suggest that Council Member Sinks was not consulted. However, neither the Mayor nor any single Councilor have the ability to overturn approval of the full City Council.
Originally passed by consensus on June 12, 2023, Shahrezaei and Strom agreed at that point to hold the study session.
What changed?
At that time, Lakewood’s Mayor was Adam Paul. He did not schedule the session either.
The question here is, why do some people’s request get priority timing and some never happen.
Regarding the study session, Mayor Strom said, “There are not currently any plans to conduct a study session on this topic. Study Sessions are primarily scheduled based on our goals set in the planning retreat that happens early in the year, this topic was not one that is on that list for 2024. … While this topic has not been discussed in a study session, there have been other conversations occurring as needed based on community input and requests, as you can imagine that’s occurring predominantly in Ward 1. Heightened cancer risk is something that we take seriously, and we’ll continue to monitor the situation and respond accordingly.“
Council Requests for Action do not need to be previously discussed at the annual retreat. For example, City Council just approved a request to modify the Lakewood Advisory Commission. This item was not discussed at the annual retreat but will be heard by the full City Council. Ironically, that discussion was initiated by the Ward 1 Councilors and was approved July 8, 2024, including a hard deadline for results.
The concept of not talking about anything unless it was approved at the annual planning retreat is relatively new and seems to applied selectively. Some topics, like public safety, have been denied multiple times.
Ward 1 Council Member and Mayor Pro Tem Shahrezaei comments, “I’m in favor of hosting study sessions on topics that interest constituents. I am confident Charley Able and I did a good job keeping Ward 1 constituents updated during the EPA rule making process. Neighbors participated in the multiple EPA Q&A sessions and have been additionally updated on this matter. I have not heard once from a community member asking for Terumo to come in or a general update during a council meeting. These neighbors are informed on the matter already and I believe that because they rallied quite a bit on the topic in 2022.“
“It will be helpful for all of Council to hear that information” Council Member Shahrezaei, June 12, 2023.
Ward 1 Council Member Glenda Sinks responds, “Are you familiar with the Open Meetings law that forbids us from discussing business off the record? We follow that law to the nth degree.“
Councilor Sinks identifies the problem exactly. How did this item fall off the agenda completely?
