In its response to the DOJ, the city said following Walsh’s resignation, the council publicly announced the vacancy and began soliciting applications for candidates for the at-large seat. Qualified candidates were publicly identified. On Nov. 28, the committee met and interviewed these candidates in open session. Following the interviews, a public comment period was held. Then the Committee of the Whole entered executive session.
This is where DOJ finds that the City Council violated FOIA laws meant to maintain government transparency.
The Freedom of Information Act codifies the public’s right to request documents from its government or bear witness to government proceedings.
According to the executive session minutes provided to the DOJ, the members discussed their “preference for not announcing their choices” because they were afraid that their selections would be made public even though they were in executive session.
In consideration of this hesitation, each candidate was given an “identifier,” and the committee voted by secret written ballot. The committee then returned to open session where the council voted on the recommendation to approve the appointments of the top candidates.
FOIA explicitly describes the circumstances in which a public body is allowed to go into executive session and what can be discussed while in that forum.
According to the attorney general’s FOIA manual , if a matter discussed during an executive session is a vote, “the vote may not be taken in executive session. The public body must return to the public session to take the vote.”
What happens next?
Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo admits that the City Council violated FOIA and said the body will comply with the DOJ’s recommendation. They are planning to recast their votes during the May 4 council meeting.
After presiding over the exercise of filling seven vacancies, Congo, president since November 2020, said he believes a special election would be more appropriate if a council vacancy arises and that council members shouldn’t even be “a part of the process” of electing council representatives.
Unless state legislators in the General Assembly decide to change the city’s charter, council members will be tasked with choosing who will represent constituents in the event of an untimely vacancy.
As for Curry, he doesn’t believe the recommendation from the DOJ goes far enough. Calling the process of these appointments “illegal,” Curry said he wants to see the appointments of the new council members annulled and any legislation that they voted on invalidated.
“The way you fix it is that you remove the things that they put in place and let them start over again,” Curry said.
Who did the council appoint to fill the vacant seats?
Latisha Bracy was appointed to the council member at-large seat during the Dec. 1 City Council meeting.
Bracy is a former staffer for U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and U.S. Sens. Carper, Biden and Kaufman. She also served as U.S. Sen. Chris Coons’ instate outreach/projects director. She is a graduate of Delaware State University and Wilmington University. Her LinkedIn profile said she works as a consultant.
Vincent White’s appointment to the 1st District council seat was approved on Feb. 2.
According to the City Council’s website, White is a member of the Northwest Civic Association and the First District Planning Council. He grew up in Wilmington’s Eastside and Southbridge communities and was a founding board member of the Henrietta Johnson Medical Center and the Southbridge Community Action Association. He is a real estate broker and heads a real estate development company.
