City of the Mayor and Council of New Castle
December 5, 2007
6:30 p.m. — Special Meeting/Workshop

Present:
President of Council William Blest
Councilperson Janet Churchill
Councilperson Teel Petty
Councilperson John Gaworski

Absent:
Councilperson Donald Reese

Also present:
Mayor John Klingmeyer, City Administrator Cathryn Thomas

A Special Meeting/Workshop was held, as a forum concerning proposed legislation before the Delaware State General Assembly, SB-4, which would make the provisions of the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) applicable to the General Assembly.

State Senator Dori Connor, who represents the City of New Castle, addressed the audience. Senator Connor gave some history on this matter and praised the work of Senator Karen Peterson for sponsoring SB-4, and her persistence in working on this issue.

Both Senators thanked New Castle resident Michael Heyman for his work in helping to put this meeting together.

Senator Peterson explained the reasoning behind the creation of SB-4. She emphasized the importance of two main benefits of the bill – that all meetings of the General Assembly would be open and that records relating to the General Assembly would be available to the public.

Senator Peterson said she expects some form of this bill to pass in 2008. To help in efforts to get this bill passed, Senator Peterson encouraged persons to contact their State representatives, asking them to support SB-4. She also said that supportive letters to the editor of newspapers would help.

Senator Connor said another benefit of SB-4 is that there would be sufficient notice of meetings and agendas would be published ahead of time.

Both Senators fielded questions and comments from the audience.

The workshop adjourned at 7:45 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Cathryn C. Thomas
City Administrator