‘It’s un-American’: Vineyard residents decry changes made by City Council members during their...

The Vineyard City Council met late into the night Wednesday as they tried to cram several contentious measures into one of their last meetings of the year, weeks before half the council members get replaced.

The city posted notice of the meeting exactly 24 hours before it took place, the bare minimum required by state law. Some residents were shocked to see all the proposals included in the meeting’s 200-page agenda packet. One draft resolution made it nearly impossible for the incoming council members to remove the controversial city manager. There was also a hearing about a potential inland port in Vineyard, and two resolutions to make quasi-governmental public infrastructure districts with unelected boards.

“To change the complete power structure and form of city governance after an election that you lost is undemocratic,” said council member-elect Jacob Holdaway in an interview. “It’s un-American. It’s not what the voters voted for. They voted for transparency.”