Times-Call (Longmont): I’ve been asked about the increasing lack of civility among City Council members. I thought it would be a good idea to let everyone know what was going on that allowed such a turn to take place and what I think it will take to end the discord.

First, how did we get here? Every two years we elect council members. My first two years on council now seem like Camelot. We had council members from both sides of the aisle and we debated the issues with one another, sometimes with great zeal. But at the end of the debate, we respected each other’s differences and moved on.

The second two years were less congenial. The makeup of the council mostly kept its balance, but not always the civil tone. There was less listening and less compromise. Ideology began to invade politics even at our city council level.

In the last city election, the situation got worse, much worse. A new council member didn’t learn the rules, or if she did, she ignored them. Our rules of procedure were written so that we conduct our business in an orderly, transparent and civil manner. If one continually breaks those rules, the rest of council will be keen to point it out — in a passionate manner.

ouncil member Bagley received an email from a citizen recently that contained an email string that included council member Peck, who used her personal email account. The emails in question concerned a meeting council member Peck attended about the development at Hover Street and Pike Road. The information in the email had disparaging remarks and inaccuracies about council members, city staff and the development process. It was disturbing on many levels.

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