Comptroller Darlene Green, another estimate board member, also has yet to say how she would vote. Green has sided with Jones over Reed on some key budget decisions since Jones became mayor in April.
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Goodman said Reed, the third member of the estimate board, didn’t take part in the teleconference call with the mayor Thursday night because he decided that doing so would violate the state open meetings law.
Goodman said because Reed and Jones make up a quorum of the three-member board, a joint talk between the two would constitute a board meeting on an item that’s already on the agenda for Friday’s scheduled meeting.
Dunne, Jones’ spokesman, didn’t comment.
Aldermen on Tuesday night gave first-round approval to the $168 million bill, which includes most of the $84.1 million in spending requested by the mayor but also significant additional allocations added by Reed, the sponsor.
The full board tacked on still more items in Tuesday’s 10-hour debate.
The spending bill needs approval by both boards to become law. If the estimate board endorses the legislation at its 9 a.m. meeting Friday, the Board of Aldermen is expected to give it final passage at its regular weekly session that starts at 10.
If the estimate board rejects the plan, Reed says the package could be stalled until aldermen return in September from a two-month summer break that begins after Friday’s meeting.