Heffter's naive? Your whole premise is based on your credulous trust that these meetings are briefings only.

These meetings are not just briefings. I am a member of an organization that works to preserve human services funding. I participate in the City budget process every year. These meetings happen every budget to get consensus of one shy of a majority of Councilmembers, plus the Mayor, on what they call a balancing package. The budget chair in these meetings makes sure that the projects supported by the other 5 Councilmembers not in the meetings are included in the final balancing package that the Council eventually votes on. This all happens after the Mayor submits his proposed budget to the Council.

This was the same process that they were going to use this month to make cuts to the capital budget.

If you listen to the Budget Committee held by the Council on 4/6 (they are stored on the City website) you can hear Jean Godden talking about VOTING on legislation that will make cuts to the capital budget. At the subsequent Budget Committee 4/13), this Monday, after Heffter's reporting, Godden says there will now be no vote.

There is no vote, because the very meetings designed to create consensus for that vote have been cancelled.

Apparently, a majority of the Council would rather let the Mayor make the cuts on his own than make the cuts themselves legislatively in an open public session. ...and THAT's neither the fault of the Open Public Meetings Act nor Hefftner's good govt. watchdog reporting.