Vice Mayor Henderson wants to relaunch chat room for policy talk

• State law forbids two or more council members from discussing legislation without alerting the public.

💭 Nate's thought bubble: It's an impossible-to-follow restriction that council members try to follow in spirit but frequently ignore, based on my 16-plus years covering the city.

Between the lines: Council Connect initially launched during the previous term. However, the chat page fizzled out and went dormant.

• Hoping to relaunch, Henderson pitched improvements, such as an alert function to give council members a heads-up when a new chat thread is opened on the Council Connect website.

What she's saying: Henderson hopes the updated website, which will be available to the public to view, will be up and running in the coming weeks.

• She says it can be "pretty deflating" for new council members to learn they're barred from talking about legislation with colleagues outside of public meetings.

• "It starts to feel like you have one hand tied behind your back and you're hopping on one foot. It's an impediment to good policy work at the council level."
• "[Council Connect] is one piece of an effort, within the constraints we have, to support council members in collegial policy work," she says.