PORTSMOUTH, Va. — At a Portsmouth City Council meeting in June, council member De'Andre Barnes asked pointed questions to a city staffer. Mayor Shannon Glover interrupted the line of questioning, saying Barnes was asking the same question over and over.
As Barnes protested, Glover ruled him out of order and then removed him from the meeting.
"He is totally out of order and it's unacceptable," Glover said.
It also happened at a meeting in March. Barnes brought his phone onto the dais after the city council decided to no longer allow live streaming from there.
Councilman Mark Whitaker was separately kicked out of a meeting in January.
Following these incidents, city council members voted 4-2 this week to require a majority vote in order to remove a council member from a meeting.
Previously, the mayor, considered the chair of the meeting, could remove someone from the meeting if they were determined to be acting disorderly.
Barnes was among the four to vote in favor of the change.
"If you get kicked out of a meeting, you would feel better if it was made by a group of people as opposed to one person," Barnes said.
Earlier this month, Glover defended his decisions in a meeting where the issue was discussed.
"One of the things that is critically important to the business of council and how we conduct our business is keeping order and decorum in the meetings," Glover said.
Glover also noted there was already a process in place where other members could appeal his ruling, which would require a vote. He didn't think the change was necessary and voted against the resolution on Tuesday.
Barnes thinks it will make things more fair.
"This allows us to stay more efficient and stay more focused on the business at hand," he said.
It'll be in effect at the council's next meeting in August.
