Move to reinstate Race & Equity Alliance dies in Lorain County commissioners meeting

ELYRIA — A move by Lorain County Commissioner Matt Lundy to reinstate the county's Race and Equity Alliance by vote of his fellow commissioners on Wednesday died without support. Lundy's motion, which failed for lack of a second motion, was to have the commission restore the REA after his Republican counterparts on the commission voted to disband it last month over his objection. Commissioner Dave Moore said he remained quiet on the matter because as a Republican on a majority Democratic commission in the early 2000s, the same had happened to him. Commissioner Michelle Hung said that she did not think the commissioner's report section of the agenda, where Lundy made his motion, was the appropriate place. The commission's legal counsel, Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, agreed with Hung during the meeting but said he would research the matter further. "Let me know when the appropriate time it is to be brought up," Lundy told Hung. Moore said he remembered his first and only previous term on the commission, from 2001 to 2005, being the "the lone Republican against two Democrats" and having his motions from the floor die in a similar way. "I do feel for Commissioner Lundy. I was in the same boat," he said. "I'm interested to see from the prosecutor what can and cannot be done during a meeting, so I feel your pain. … I've done it in the past so that's why you had me sitting here quiet." Moore also suggested the agencies involved in the Race and Equity Alliance — The Coalition for Hispanic/Latino Issues and Progress; El Centro; the Elyria, Lorain and Oberlin chapters of the NAACP; the Urban League of Lorain County; and the YWCA — "for 50 bucks each they could, if the mission is strong and support is strong, they could form a 501(c)(3) and they could continue as a nonprofit organization." Lundy also asked the commission to consider reinstating $4.6 million in COVID-19 relief grants he, Sweda and former Commissioner Lori Kokoski passed last year. That motion also died for lack of a second and Hung banged a gavel repeatedly to try to silence Lundy as he continued to try to make his point. Following Wednesday's meeting, Hung said she would defer to Moore's remarks on the REA and said Lundy's motion was made improperly. "In our organizational meeting on Jan. 4, the current Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted to follow Robert's Rules of Order," Hung said. "We all take turns when considering pending resolutions. We all take turns when we are asking questions of participant guest speakers. Furthermore, the public knows Mr. Lundy was a state representative; he is aware of how the process works. "During the commissioners report, once you have concluded your report, you are done," she said. "This is not a back-and-forth, this is not a free-for-all. I have made it clear to the public, we will conduct orderly meetings doing the business of Lorain County. If any of the commissioners feel like they are not having their time respected, then maybe we will have to dispense with the Commissioners Report on a meeting-by-meeting basis." Hung said Lundy was trying to amend the meeting agenda within his report, which she said can't be done without a two-thirds vote of the commission, citing Section 41:63 in the Robert's Rules 12th edition. Further rules of parliamentary procedure, she said, are that the officer can make a recommendation but not the actual motion. "Someone else would have to make the motion, and that then leads back to in order to make the motion, it must be added to the agenda first," she said. Lundy expressed frustration with the process Wednesday and questioned how his future attempts to get items on the agenda might go. "You tell me how that goes when I bring up REA and reinstating grants when I ask to bring it up on the agenda," he said. "I had to bring it up on the floor and I brought it up on the floor and will continue to do so. I'm trying to be as civil as possible and I will not be muzzled. I will not be gaveled" into silence. Hung "may have to buy a couple new gavels over the years. I will not be gaveled or muzzled. I can't understand why we're not able to have an open discussion in the room. Let's be transparent and have an open discussion. And yes, some of them are difficult to have." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him at @daveobrienCT on Twitter.