This is just wild. For a tiny town like that, I wonder what financial assets are at stake? There's a town hall, apparently. Do they collect taxes? Aren't there bank accounts? If the new mayor...
This is just wild. For a tiny town like that, I wonder what financial assets are at stake? There's a town hall, apparently. Do they collect taxes? Aren't there bank accounts? If the new mayor showed up at the bank and asked for the accounts to be turned over to his new treasurer, what would happen?
Matt Levine sometimes writes about corporate governance disputes where crazy things have happened. I don't remember reading about it happening for a town government, but there must be stories?
Maybe if this story gets more attention, the new mayor will be able to attract some outside legal help?
This article's writing does not do the issue justice. These two sentences are the crux of the matter, but they're unelaborated on and make no sense. People can hold meetings, so what made the...
This article's writing does not do the issue justice.
Former members of the predominantly white town council, all of whom failed to file their own required paperwork, held an undisclosed and illegal meeting to arrange a special election to fill their own seats.
Their first order of business was to hold another meeting—with no public notice—and reappoint the former mayor, Stokes, as the new mayor.
These two sentences are the crux of the matter, but they're unelaborated on and make no sense.
People can hold meetings, so what made the meeting illegal? What is a special election? How can a group of unelected people arrange a special election? Why was a special election necessary if they were already councilors despite not filling to be elected? How did this happen without the town knowing about it? How is it that councilors can vote to replace the mayor? And what's the law that lets the mayor pass along the position without an election in the first place?
It depends on the state, but in most cases council meetings require a quorum, and have to be announced publicly ahead of time. There are also laws that prohibit discussing public business outside...
It depends on the state, but in most cases council meetings require a quorum, and have to be announced publicly ahead of time. There are also laws that prohibit discussing public business outside an official venue, specifically to preclude situations like this. These are pretty widespread laws in the US, so I don't think it's necessarily a sign of ineptitude to not include in-depth explanations of the hows and whys. You do have to assume a US audience, though.
This is exactly the kind of thing the federal courts exist to resolve, especially if the state refuses to take action. In all likelihood the state Attorney General will side with the party that appointed them, and I'll give you one guess as to which party had the AG appointed, and which the unelected "council" will claim allegiance to. In that case, the state could conceivably drag the case on forever under a Tenth Amendment claim. Could be ugly.
I don't think you have to explain what a quorum is, but it's pretty easy to write "... in an illegal meeting held without a quorum or public announcement." Stating why the meeting was illegal is...
It depends on the state, but in most cases council meetings require a quorum, and have to be announced publicly ahead of time. There are also laws that prohibit discussing public business outside an official venue, specifically to preclude situations like this. These are pretty widespread laws in the US, so I don't think it's necessarily a sign of ineptitude to not include in-depth explanations of the hows and whys. You do have to assume a US audience, though.
I don't think you have to explain what a quorum is, but it's pretty easy to write "... in an illegal meeting held without a quorum or public announcement." Stating why the meeting was illegal is important.
But this also wasn't a council meeting, the quote calls them "former members." The whole article is in desperate need of an editor to have kicked this back for a clarifying rewrite.
Oh, no argument there. The same could be said of pretty much any current events website. I was training up to be such an editor years ago, right about when the pay dried up. Just as I was ready to...
Oh, no argument there. The same could be said of pretty much any current events website. I was training up to be such an editor years ago, right about when the pay dried up. Just as I was ready to hit the job market, everybody started paying in "exposure" instead of stuff you can actually buy food and shelter with.
Are mayors not legally required to be elected in Alabama? I have never heard of it being the type of role where you can just declare yourself the mayor and appoint your own successors. I live just...
Are mayors not legally required to be elected in Alabama? I have never heard of it being the type of role where you can just declare yourself the mayor and appoint your own successors.
I live just outside a village of similar size (around 250 people), and I can't imagine someone being a mayor or being on a council here without going through an election. If there's no election for mayor or council (and where we live, there is not), there is no mayor or council; we are administered at the next tier of government at which we do have elections (which in our case is a shire — which basically like a very small county that contains multiples villages and towns).
It's a majority black village. It seems odd that the inhabitants want a tiny social circle of white people to declare each other mayor back and forth for generations. Certainly their elections...
It's a majority black village. It seems odd that the inhabitants want a tiny social circle of white people to declare each other mayor back and forth for generations. Certainly their elections results imply they do not want it.
Stokes initially tried to dissuade Braxton from running because he said the town of 245 people couldn’t support an election. After all, Stokes said, they “don’t have ballots or machines to do it.” So Braxton headed to the county seat of Greensboro and got all the paperwork he needed, following the rules to the letter, and shelling out the funds for the filing fee. Stokes didn’t bother to do any of that.
Braxton assumed office and was advised that he should appoint the town council members, marking the first time the Black-majority council truly represented the majority-Black town. In November 2020, the council and Braxton were all sworn into office together. But it appears a conspiracy to hold power by the former council was created soon after the swearing-in. Former members of the predominantly white town council, all of whom failed to file their own required paperwork, held an undisclosed and illegal meeting to arrange a special election to fill their own seats.
Their first order of business was to hold another meeting—with no public notice—and reappoint the former mayor, Stokes, as the new mayor.
This is just wild. For a tiny town like that, I wonder what financial assets are at stake? There's a town hall, apparently. Do they collect taxes? Aren't there bank accounts? If the new mayor showed up at the bank and asked for the accounts to be turned over to his new treasurer, what would happen?
Matt Levine sometimes writes about corporate governance disputes where crazy things have happened. I don't remember reading about it happening for a town government, but there must be stories?
Maybe if this story gets more attention, the new mayor will be able to attract some outside legal help?
This article's writing does not do the issue justice.
These two sentences are the crux of the matter, but they're unelaborated on and make no sense.
People can hold meetings, so what made the meeting illegal? What is a special election? How can a group of unelected people arrange a special election? Why was a special election necessary if they were already councilors despite not filling to be elected? How did this happen without the town knowing about it? How is it that councilors can vote to replace the mayor? And what's the law that lets the mayor pass along the position without an election in the first place?
This issue deserves a much better article.
It depends on the state, but in most cases council meetings require a quorum, and have to be announced publicly ahead of time. There are also laws that prohibit discussing public business outside an official venue, specifically to preclude situations like this. These are pretty widespread laws in the US, so I don't think it's necessarily a sign of ineptitude to not include in-depth explanations of the hows and whys. You do have to assume a US audience, though.
This is exactly the kind of thing the federal courts exist to resolve, especially if the state refuses to take action. In all likelihood the state Attorney General will side with the party that appointed them, and I'll give you one guess as to which party had the AG appointed, and which the unelected "council" will claim allegiance to. In that case, the state could conceivably drag the case on forever under a Tenth Amendment claim. Could be ugly.
I don't think you have to explain what a quorum is, but it's pretty easy to write "... in an illegal meeting held without a quorum or public announcement." Stating why the meeting was illegal is important.
But this also wasn't a council meeting, the quote calls them "former members." The whole article is in desperate need of an editor to have kicked this back for a clarifying rewrite.
Oh, no argument there. The same could be said of pretty much any current events website. I was training up to be such an editor years ago, right about when the pay dried up. Just as I was ready to hit the job market, everybody started paying in "exposure" instead of stuff you can actually buy food and shelter with.
Are mayors not legally required to be elected in Alabama? I have never heard of it being the type of role where you can just declare yourself the mayor and appoint your own successors.
I live just outside a village of similar size (around 250 people), and I can't imagine someone being a mayor or being on a council here without going through an election. If there's no election for mayor or council (and where we live, there is not), there is no mayor or council; we are administered at the next tier of government at which we do have elections (which in our case is a shire — which basically like a very small county that contains multiples villages and towns).
Most likely just a straight up racist stink hole of a town full of “good ol boys” who keep the town the same and that’s what all the inhabitants want.
It's a majority black village. It seems odd that the inhabitants want a tiny social circle of white people to declare each other mayor back and forth for generations. Certainly their elections results imply they do not want it.