Meeting Rule Expert Fired in Lake Elmo

LAKE ELMO -- The Lake Elmo City Council has voted to oust its expert on parliamentary procedures.

Some council members considered the $200-an-hour meeting rule enforcer a waste of taxpayer money. Others say they learned a lot about how meetings should be run.

Since December, the city has paid the freelance parliamentarian about $13,600 to attend city council meetings in an attempt to make them more civil and free from personal agendas and attacks.

The rules expert was terminated recently because a state law was discovered that forbids outsiders from presiding over the meetings. Only the mayor or acting mayor are supposed to do that.

Mayor Mike Pearson says hiring the parliamentarian was "a colossal failure." He says the meetings have been longer and the council is "as cantankerous as ever."