An incident from a few weeks ago. On May 25th, 2021, during a Town Council meeting from my town, there was a slightly heated discussion between Ms. Nimphius, Chairperson of the Parks and Recreations board, and Ms. Fleury, the Mayor. During the discussion, several claims were made, and I am here to check if these claims were true.

Hours: < For Both> 

< Made by Mr. Lamont>

When: 05/25/21, At 26:53 into the video

Evidence Needed:

My Assessment: The claim was not correct, and cannot be made. Despite there being minutes and agenda packets that show Ms. Nimphius showed up, the video does not show that. The videos are incomplete or do not show the full meeting, and do not Ms. Nimphius showed up. Therefore, the claim cannot be proven. 

Other Notations …. Even though I don’t have the evidence to prove the interrupting behavior, in my view, or even just on the behavior in the meeting. When I was watching the video, I observed a few things. For example, Ms. Nimphius’s posture when she was speaking. She wasn’t standing properly when she was speaking. To me, it seemed like she could have been uninterested or even bored at the meeting. I also noticed her tone. When Mr. Lamont was asking her questions, I could hear some annoyance in her voice. She didn’t say anything rude, but I felt that her tone wasn’t very respectful. I also want to compare her testimony and behavior to Mr. Jaramillo’s. 

After Ms. Nimphius left the meeting Mr. Jaramillo was asked to finish updating the Council. He was very respectful and was listening attentively to what Ms. Fleury and Mr. Lamont were saying. Even when Mr. Lamont was saying that the two meetings were unproductive, instead of arguing that they were, he took the feedback respectfully. His posture was also respectful. Both his feet were on the ground, and he was quiet when another was speaking. Also, both Mr. Jaramillo and Ms. Nimphius gave a different update to the council. Ms. Nimphius told the Council what was upcoming on the agenda, but Mr. Jaramillo said there weren’t. I don’t understand how this happened, but perhaps the agenda update Ms. Nimphius happened spur of the moment. Maybe there was something new added to the agenda that came up all of a sudden and Mr. Jaramillo was not informed. 

I couldn’t find any behavior traits Ms. Fleury or Mr. Lamont had in their behavior.  

Claim 2-

My Assessment: The Meeting Minutes do not show that Mr. Lamont attended the March meeting, and there are no records for the May meeting. So, Mr. Lamont’s claim cannot be proven. However, this does not mean Ms. Nimphius’ claim can be proven as well.      

I was reading the agenda packet and as I was reading, I saw a couple things that were not very necessary to talk about during the meeting. I think that they could have been discussed through email and that could have given extra time at the meeting. So, the meetings were only partially unproductive, but I think were productive. But, I also wanted to add in one more thing. Mr. Lamont and Ms. Nimphius mentioned Sports Agreements. Mr. Lamont asked about the agreements, and Ms. Nimphius said that they were still being discussed with the sub- committee. The way she said it sounded like she didn’t know what was happening. I think instead of saying it was being finalized with the sub-committee, she should have let another member speak or give an update, or even said that she would get back to Mr. Lamont on that. 

Claim 3-

I want to say that I think Claim 3 is an overstatement. Yes, there were a few things on the agenda that were unnecessary and wasted some time, but I don’t think that the meetings are taking away valuable time. As I was going through the agenda there were quite a few, very important items that would not take away valuable time. Maybe some hours were taken away, or, maybe even after having those meetings, the action taken was slow or very minimal. Either way, I think that Mr. Lamont made a rash claim to say that the meetings took away valuable time. 

In conclusion, the claims made by Ms. Fleury, Ms. Nimphius, and Mr. Lamont cannot be proven.

I really just want to say one thing. Mr. Lamont, Ms. Fleury, and Ms. Nimphius have all made claims that cannot be proven. These are people I could look up to or admire, but upon seeing their claims, I don’t know how I can. How can I look up to someone who makes a claim that cannot be proven? That’s all.

Finally, I just want to point out how much information I’ve gotten to back these claims up. Barely any. ( I hope this doesn’t come out as rude.) It took me about 2 weeks to finally have everything I need/ that exists and in the midst of it, I got a bit stressed. I sent an email to the Open Records Department again and even the mayor, talking about what I needed and how bad the information was kept. I have to say, I sounded extremely rude in that. I didn’t mean to, I was just stressed because I was not able to acquire the information I needed when I needed it. So, I would like to apologize to the mayor and the Open Records lady, again, for being rude in the email. But, I am still not very pleased that the Town Council has not managed their records properly. Many items do not exist or are not properly kept, and I think that this should be fixed. Those records that should be open to the public, are not complete.