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60 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, March 15, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 11, 2005 Phoenix rescinds council appointment Mayor now says she’ll write confidential memos to council members about city business she’s conducting By ROBERT PLAIN for the Mail Tribune PHOENIX — The City Council Thursday rescinded the appointment of a member because the council had improperly installed him. Councilman David Lewin had never received a majority of the council’s votes when he was appointed last month to replace Hal Burks, who had resigned his seat. The council voted unanimously to rescind Lewin’s appointment, and then renominated him, along with council applicant Lee Carrau. In a runoff vote, Carrau won the seat. Council members Steven Schulman, Dean Martin and Otto Caster voted for Carrau. Members Carlos DeBritto and Terry Helfrich voted for Lewin. In other council business, Schulman and Martin expressed concern about Mayor Vicki Bear’s governing style and her relationship with Council President DeBritto. Advertisement "There is the continual appearance of the mayor exercising power that isn’t there," Schulman said. He took issue with the fact that she held a private meeting with state Sen. Alan Bates and Rep. Peter Buckley. In defense of the meeting, Bear said, "At no point in time did I ever enter into any binding decisions for this city." After the meeting, she would not comment on her meeting with Bates and Buckley because "it involved a LUBA decision," she said. Martin agreed that the perception was that Bear has been overextending her powers as mayor. "There is the appearance of one mayor and one councilor doing an awful lot of meeting together that the entire council should be involved in," he said. Bear said that in the future she would issue "confidential memos" to alert council members about what city business she has been conducting. After the meeting, City Attorney Larry Kerr said he would have to look into the legal ramifications of a mayor issuing confidential memos to council members. Bear said, in the interim, she would operate as if they were lawful although she did not say if any would be issued before Kerr gave her his decision. Robert Plain is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. He can be reached at 482-3456 or [email protected]. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress Advertisement s