Politics & Government

Kelly Tries, Unsuccessfully, To Revive Boys Hope Girls Hope in Brentwood

Brentwood Mayor Pat Kelly put reconsideration of Boys Hope Girls Hope on the agenda, and more than one alderman said he didn't have the right to do that.

Boys Hope Girls Hope (BHGH) has now been defeated in two consecutive Brentwood Board of Aldermen meetings.

Rezoning of a residential lot on Madge Avenue, allowing BHGH to build on Madge was voted down 4-3 on Aug. 5. Mayor Pat Kelly put it on the agenda for reconsideration for the Sept. 9 meeting, held at the Brentwood Rec Center.

Ward 3 Alderman Andy Leahy moved to take it off the agenda, which passed.

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The discussion leading up to the vote was mainly about how it got on the agenda in the first place. 

Leahy told Kelly he didn’t have the right to put it there because BHGH had withdrawn its application, which Kelly disagreed with.

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Ward 1 Alderwoman Maureen Saunders said one of the aldermen who voted against it needed to make the request before the meeting. She said that didn’t happen, and as of Friday, Kelly had placed it on the agenda, so it was invalid.

“Are we ever going to learn to follow procedures?” Saunders asked, remarking that it was not following procedures that got the city into past troubles that led to the state audit.

Kelly rebutted that Saunders’ asking for BHGH’s tax returns was not following procedures. Saunders said it was her due diligence to learn more about the applicant.

Kelly and Saunders continued the discussion, with large portions of the audience either applauding or goading the two as Kelly brought up other examples of Saunders not following procedure, and Saunders defending her actions.

Attorney, Leland Curtis, representing a firm that advises the city, said there was interest on both sides, so rather than have the matter not appear on the agenda at all, it would be better to err on the side of giving notice to everybody, to make sure everyone knew there was a possibility this would come up.

After it was removed from the agenda a resident stood and asked what had just happened, because if Boys Hope Girls Hope is now a dead issue they can go home. Eventually Kelly did explain, that yes, it was now dead.


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