Barton again before Lynn council for approval

LYNN – The City Council today is expected to vote on whether to confirm Patricia Barton’s nomination by Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to the three-member License Commission.The council’s Interview Committee last Tuesday voted to recommend the mayor’s appointment. However, the full council did not vote on the matter because Council President Timothy Phelan said any action must lay over for seven days unless a councilor makes a motion for an emergency vote. No such motion was made.Coincidentally, the License Commission meets today at 6:30 p.m. According to Claire Cavanagh, the mayor’s chief of staff, Barton plans to attend the commission meeting to observe the proceedings.Commissioner John Pace, whose seat Barton is slated to assume, will serve as a voting member for Tuesday’s meeting, Cavanagh said.Cavanagh said the mayor requested the License Commission delay its meeting for about two hours, long enough for the City Council to vote on Barton’s confirmation.”It wasn’t possible because of the Open Meeting Law and the public notification process that is required whenever you schedule a hearing,” said Cavanagh, noting that the License Commission agenda contains at least five hearings. “You need at least 48 hours to do that and more sometimes when there are hearings involved and people have arranged for their attorneys to be present.”The vote on Barton’s confirmation to a six-year term on the License Commission is on the council agenda. The mayor’s nomination also names Barton as the commission chairman.Barton is a lifelong Lynn resident retired from over 20 years as a teacher and administrator in the city’s public schools.