LaCasse contended that as president and a voting ex-officio member of every council committee, he had membership in each of the committees that made up the joint committee - and therefore had two votes.Councilor Bill Bowles took issue with the interpretation, arguing a joint committee is a single committee with each member getting one vote.
Mangiaratti agreed with Bowles's interpretation, saying that a joint committee is a "separate and unified deliberative assembly" with each member getting a single vote.
He said he reviewed the city charter, city ordinances, council rules of procedure and Robert's Rules of Order, but could find no rule that covered the situation.
Furthermore, after discussing the question with colleagues at his law firm, Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & LeHane, Mangiaratti said, there was "no clear answer."
"I cannot say with authority the position of Mr. LaCasse with respect to his ability to cast two votes at the joint committee meeting was plainly wrong," he wrote.
But he said two votes for one committee member is out of the ordinary.
Then shouldn't the Voters get more than one vote for items that combine Town, State, and Federal funds/properties? With these inbred clowns is it any wonder the USA is headed down the wrong path?
Please, the official slang term for my home-state is My-ass-itch-ooze-zits.