VMICC meeting ends abruptly after a testy exchange between Islanders
August 17, 2010 · Updated 1:20 PM
The monthly meeting of the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council (VMICC) ended abruptly Monday night when chair Jean Bosch called the meeting to a close — not more than 20 minutes into the two-hour gathering.
Bosch ended the meeting, she said Tuesday morning, because Islander Tom Bangasser was violating the rules, attempting to speak out of turn.
“The only way a meeting could be run is if there is agreement on the rules by which it is run, and there was not that agreement last night,” Bosch said.
Bangasser, for his part, said Bosch was out of order when she abruptly ended the meeting, pulling the plug on the AV equipment as she announced it was over.
“She had no authority to shut it down,” he said Tuesday morning. Such a move, he said, requires a motion from the floor.
Those who were there to discuss a credit union with the VMICC, meanwhile, quickly regrouped, took the floor and held what was then a non-VMICC meeting about the proposed credit union.
Tensions flared between Bosch and Bangasser after a King County official told the gathering that the council has to conform with the state’s far-reaching open meeting laws.
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