Citizen Email to the Charter Convention About How Council Members Shouldn’t Vote For Their Replacements

The deadline to submit proposals for amendments to the Charter is today — Friday, June 10.

Proposals can be submitted by email to omahacharterconvention@cityofomaha.org.

By Scott Blake

Hello Omaha Charter Convention -

I'm writing about the proposed changes to the City Charter, specifically Section 2.06: "Filling Council Vacancies."

First, a little context may be helpful so you know where I'm coming from. There have been 10 vacancies on the Omaha City Council since its first meeting in 1956. Rich Pahls was the ONLY outgoing council member to vote for his replacement. I discovered this discrepancy in early January 2021 (before Colleen Brennan was sworn in). I immediately emailed the entire City Council, none of them replied. I emailed the City Clerk, James Dowding, Steve Scarpello, and Deputy City Attorney Michelle Peters; again no response.

I shared my findings on Twitter, and several local reporters contacted me. In the news articles, City Attorney Matt Kuhse denied any wrongdoing and said my accusations were "without merit." I thought the matter was settled. So you can imagine my surprise when Senior Attorney Ryan Wiesen seemed to be backtracking on this issue at the Charter Convention. I believe Mr. Wiesen's brief presentation on May 26, 2022 left out some pertinent information. Nebraska Statute 32-568 clearly states, “If any vacancy occurs in the office of city council member of a city of the metropolitan class, the remaining members of the council shall appoint a person to fill such vacancy from the district in which the vacancy occurred for the remainder of the term.” I shared this information with city officials and reporters, but Matt Kuhse deflected, “The position was not vacant yet. Rich Pahls was still a member of the City Council, and I can find nothing in Nebraska law or in Omaha’s charter or in Omaha’s ordinances that would prohibit Pahls from voting on this position.”

I reminded everyone that there have been four vacancies (Reynolds 1958, Friend 1994, Terry 1999, Anzaldo 2000) where the outgoing council member was still on the council, but unlike Rich Pahls all of the previous outgoing council members did not vote for their replacement and did not participate in the vacancy process. Two of those vacancies happened while Paul Kratz was City Attorney. Since Mr. Kratz is the current Chair of the 2022 Charter Convention and has participated in several previous charter reviews, maybe he can enlighten us.

Lee Terry resigned from the City Council in 1999. The Omaha World Herald wrote, "Terry is not legally allowed to participate in the process and won't vote on his replacement." The final vote was 6 - 0 for James Monahan. Subby Anzaldo resigned from the City Council in 2000, and the Omaha World Herald wrote, "Anzaldo, who has served on the council longer than any of his colleagues, won't participate in the nomination or selection process." The final vote was 5 - 1 for Bob Sivick.

I know the City Council does not answer questions, but I'm going to ask anyway.

Did something change in Nebraska Law or Omaha’s charter to allow Rich Pahls to vote for his replacement? What happens if this Charter Amendment is not approved? Finally, in Ryan Wiesen's presentation and Jim Dowding's email to the Charter Convention they both mentioned "considerable negative feedback from the public" for allowing Rich Pahls to vote for his replacement.

What the City Attorney and Chief of Staff didn't tell you is, the appointment of Colleen Brennan was the most botched vacancy replacement in the history of the Omaha City Council because 2020 was the first time the City Council did not interview any of the applicants. Council member Palermo said he voted for Brennan because she reached out to him more than any other candidate. The Omaha World Herald did minimal reporting on the applicants. Literally just a list of the 17 names a couple of days before the vote, no bios, no quotes, no vetting. And by far most of the negative feedback was about Colleen Brennan's personal blog. A couple of months after Colleen Brennan was sworn in, voters in District 5 soundly rejected her in the 2021 Primary Election, making Brennan the shortest serving member on Omaha City Council (145 days) and the biggest loser for an incumbent (14% of votes).