Mayor John Lombardi III let his temper loose at a common council work session on Wednesday, shouting at aldermen who were reluctant to sponsor a repeat resolution from Congressman Nick Langworthy to “Do it again!”
Aldermen were discussing that they had unanimously passed Langworthy’s resolution in 2023 to oppose banning natural gas in future building construction when Lombardi lost his patience.
According to text read by City Clerk Emily Stoddard at the work session, Langworthy’s office sought approval of the resolution from various local and county governments in order to present a list of supporters while advocating for the Energy Choice Act. Margaret Lupo, 5th Ward alderman, said she had asked last week that the resolution be removed from the agenda because the council had unanimously passed it in 2023.
On Wednesday, no alderman volunteered to sponsor the resolution for the night’s Common Council meeting. When Kathryn Fogle, 4th Ward alderman and council president, asked several times if no one would sponsor the resolution, John Craig, 1st Ward alderman and Anita Mullane, 2nd Ward alderman, said together that it had been done before.
Lupo said, “It seems a little bit grandstanding” of the resolution being presented again.
“Langworthy’s not even our congressman,” she added.
Mark Devine, 3rd Ward alderman, asked for clarification on the purpose of the resolution, and David Blackley, corporation counsel, explained that it was a resolution that opposed banning natural gas. Devine said he was in favor of natural gas availability and Lupo responded that the council had agreed with the resolution before and didn’t need to do so again.
Lombardi, confused about the outcome of not moving forward with the resolution, interrupted, yelling, “You vote no on this, you’re in favor of getting rid of gas.”
When Lupo said again that they had supported it before, Lombardi shouted, “Then do it again!”
Fogle volunteered to sponsor the resolution and asked if Devine would co-sponsor. He agreed.
The council voted unanimously in support of the resolution, which said that such bans “undermine affordability, threaten reliability during peak demand, and strip away the freedom of consumers and businesses to choose the energy sources that best meet their needs.”
In an interview, Lupo said when the council voted on the resolution in 2023, the Christmas blizzard that caused significant power failures was fresh in their minds.
“I truly believe that people would freeze to death if we had the blizzard of 2022 and it was all electric,” Lupo said. “I remembered that I had a gas stove on and I kept it on. That’s why I think we can’t go t o all-electric.”