Bathroom Break Causes Council Controversy

Granting someone permission to use the bathroom can have consequences. For Capt. Mark McCluskey and Virgil "The Turk" Solozzo in the first Godfather film, the decision cost their lives as Michael Corleone returned from a restaurant restroom and fired a gun. The outcome was a little lower on the intensity scale for Attleboro City Council President Frank Cook, but his apparent permission to allow two colleagues to use the facilities during a discussion and vote at the April 2 meeting led to a 20-minute debate two weeks later about who can go when.

At the center of the controversy were City Councilors Jay DiLisio and Mark Cooper, who left the table for the bathroom during a discussion and vote on, perhaps ironically, pollutant limits for wastewater discharges. Seven councilors voted for the measure, Richard Conti and Sara-Lynn Reynolds opposed it and the restroom duo was counted as absent.

The next day, Conti filed a motion to reconsider the measure. He said at the April 16 council meeting he filed the motion because it "gives the councilors who were absent an opportunity to have a perfect voting record." Some of his colleagues alleged Conti's motivation was less sincere.

"I was personally confused by this motion to reconsider because I know we took multiple votes that night with only nine people present," said Councilor Jeremy Denlea, who has had several conflicts with Conti, including being publicly accused by him of violating the state's open meeting law. "So, I think it's really disingenuous and strange that this was the one vote to be pulled out for reconsideration."

He added, "I don't know what the council rules of procedure say, but if I need to use the bathroom, I'm going to get up and go use the bathroom because I'm an adult. And if that offends someone, I'm sorry, but I think that's a rule we can all agree upon."

DiLisio called the situation "humiliating" and said he had been fielding calls since Conti filed his motion, with people suggesting he had protested a vote on the more controversial issue of the city's . This program, although perhaps related, was not involved in the item that was before the council two weeks earlier.

"This is politics at its worst, and I'm sorry, but there's no need for it now," DiLisio said.

Cooper spoke about his history of getting permission to use the bathroom since kindergarten (watch the video attached to this article), and he said he has not had to ask for it since high school. 

President Cook noted the council's rules of procedure say a councilor "shall not leave the Council Chambers without being excused by the Presiding Officer." He said he usually allows his colleagues to use the restroom if they give him the "hi sign" or a nod.

"I knew that two people had gone to the bathroom [during the April 2 meeting]," Cook said. "If people were trying to use the bathroom as a means of getting out of the vote, I would have not allowed it because I feel very strongly we are supposed to be voting on issues and you know that there are some issues that are controversial. This, to me, I did not think was a very controversial item at all."

Conti added, "The president has the right to be able to say, 'No, I am not going to excuse you. Please stay for the vote and we'll take a recess later.'"

He said he apologized "if councilors are offended" by his motion to reconsider, although "I don’t think an apology is in order. I didn't mean to embarrass any councilors," stressing "the spirit and intent of the measure" was to give DiLisio and Cooper the opportunity to have a perfect voting record. 

In the end it was determined the April 2 decision would not be reconsidered, with all 11 councilors voting against Conti's motion, including Conti.