Vote to repeal Monessen’s no-show ordinance fails

By KRISTIE LINDEN
klinden@yourmvi.com
A move to repeal the ordinance that aimed to compel members of Monessen council to attend meetings failed last night.
The ordinance was first approved in March 2019 after Mayor Matt Shorraw had missed 10 months of meetings and Councilman Gil Coles had missed a year’s worth of meetings.
The law called for fines to be levied against elected officials who failed to show up for meetings.
Shorraw and Coles both stayed away from meetings for roughly two years before returning in early January when they joined newly elected Councilman Don Gregor to form a new majority on council. The council members who continued to attend — Tony Orzechowski, Lois Thomas and Dave Feehan — passed the ordinance.
Last month, Shorraw made a motion to repeal it, saying it was never enforced and he believed the law was an infringement on his free speech.
At the time, Solicitor Tim Witt said the only infringement on speech he could see is if Shorraw and Coles were protesting some sort of action.
The first vote to repeal the ordinance passed last month 3-2 with Shorraw, Coles and Gregor voting in favor and Orzechowski and Thomas voting against the move.
This week, Thomas said she questioned the need to repeal the ordinance “because we should be coming to the meetings as we were elected to do. So you don’t think we should be held accountable for anything?”
Shorraw said he does think they should be accountable but the ordinance wasn’t enforced and if the state legislature is really going to take up the issue then the city doesn’t need its own ordinance.
“If we’re going to do it, why not just not pay them instead of the $25 fine? It seems like it was just a nuisance that was meant to embarrass someone,” Gregor said.
Thomas said she was OK with that.
“If we’re all doing our jobs it shouldn’t affect anyone, should it?” Thomas asked and Gregor agreed.
Thomas suggested tabling the motion to repeal the ordinance until next month so council could discuss amending it instead.
Gregor said his preference would be to repeal the ordinance and make a new one because he wasn’t sure council could amend the ordinance.
Witt said the ordinance could be amended and agreed with Thomas, saying he couldn’t see why council couldn’t change it to taking away the pay of members who have unexcused absences.
The original ordinance provided for excused absences, such as illnesses, trips, family situations and the like.
“The only problem with repealing it is that we should wait until there is a new one in place, because what if there never is a new one,” Orzechowski said.
The mayor called for a vote on the motion to repeal the ordinance and it failed 2-3. Shorraw and Gregor voted in favor of repealing the ordinance and Coles, Thomas and Orzechowski voted against it.

See the video from Tuesday’s meeting on www.monvalleyindependent.com.