Portsmouth Mayor Sean Dunne is not at all happy with Scioto County Daily News’ coverage of the proposed agenda for the Portsmouth City Manager’s and Portsmouth City Council meeting and he made his feelings known at Monday’s City Council meeting.
He was upset over SCDN articles where we report about items on the agenda for the City Manager’s Conference that takes place after the Portsmouth City Council Member.
While the official wording on the agenda sent to the press by the city says that the City Manager’s Office is asking the council to consider items, Dunne pointed out that oftentimes city council has requested that the city manager put the item on the agenda, so stating that the city manager is asking the council to consider an item is not correct in some cases.
SCDN “Does Not Watch Meetings”
He pointed to a recent proposal to consider rescinding the city’s 80-year-old ban on ice cream trucks on residential streets. “It’s missing the entire process of how legislation moves forward.” While he said it would be unlikely for anyone to become angry at the city manager for proposing changes to ice cream truck legislation, he said that might not be the case for more controversial pieces of legislation.
Dunne went on to say that SCDN does not “watch the meetings anyway.” The mayor went on to say that in the past “we’ve had to correct poor reporting from national outlets about Portsmouth, but right now I think our biggest issue is a local one.” Dunne did not specify any factually inaccurate articles.
Last year, when Portsmouth was considering legislation decriminalizing marijuana on a city level, Dunne was the only official contacted who refused to speak to SCDN, despite being the one who proposed the ordinance. At the time he said there was another local story we should have covered and that he would not consider speaking to us until we wrote that article. That ordinance eventually went down to defeat.
Sauce Gets Shoutout
However, SCDN correspondent William Robinson received some praise later in the meeting from Councilman Joey Sandlin. “I want to put a shoutout to William Robinson. He’s making a hot sauce. He’s a local culinary guy.”
Robinson’s Louisiana Style THUMP Fiery Cayenne Hot Sauce is burning up the hot sauce charts.
Sandlin said, “I am thankful for the entrepreneurial spirit that I see in him. I think as council we need to encourage people to go after their dreams.” Sandlin said this type of spirit brings about economic growth and jobs.