News-Record.com

At the tail end of last night's City Council meeting, council member Florence Gatten made a motion to reconsider a rezoning request the council rejected at its Feb. 7 meeting for about 2 acres along Fleming Road. The property includes the historic Bond-McAlister House.

Council voted 9-0 to reconsider the rezoning and have an all-new public hearing on the request at their March 7 meeting.

How does this work? Anyone on the winning side of a vote - in this case, Gatten - can make a motion to reconsider.

As Gatten wrote in a memo to fellow council members, this is usually done "when there are new conditions or circumstances."

Gatten, city staff and the property owner worked out some new conditions on the rezoning intended to insure the Bond-McAlister House is preserved. Conditions include a ban on most new structures on the property, making it in the owner's best financial interest to preserve the Bond-McAlister House.

While the vote to reconsider the rezoning was unanimous, that doesn't guarantee the rezoning will be approved. Mayor Keith Holliday, for instance, expressed reservations last night about the proposal.

So your lesson in parliamentary procedure for today is this: If you don't like a vote council has taken, the issue isn't over as long as you can convince a council member on the winning side of the vote to change his or her mind.