Oct. 9, 2024 1:15p
(WGTD)---The next step in the dispute between Racine Mayor Cory Mason and a half-dozen members of the city council who are boycotting meetings is expected to come this Thursday.
That’s when the council’s Executive Committee is scheduled to meet and consider several ordinance changes that have been bottled up in committee.
The most significant of them would make it easier for council members to get items scheduled for debate by the full council.
The boycotters say current ordinances give the mayor too much power and go against established principles of representative government.
Meeting as a Committee of the Whole, a majority of council members have already approved the changes. However, three of the five Executive Committee members voted against them, leading the boycotters to question what might happen Thursday night.
In other city hall news, Racine's communications director has left to take a similar position with Mt. Pleasant. Sean Ryan, a former Milwaukee Business Journal reporter, had been with the city for just six months.
Among other things, Ryan, as city spokesman, fielded questions from reporters about Racine's dispute with Mt. Pleasant over a water and sewer agreement. While the Racine City Council eventually approved utility connections that had been hung up for months, a circuit court lawsuit filed by one of the developers remains alive, as does a state Public Service Commission complaint filed against the city by the village.
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