Today I marched in my first parade as a City Council member.

Unfortunately, not everyone on Council was present this time either. My colleague and fellow 3rd Ward representative, Brian Filipiak, was absent.

It turns out there is a little-known rule in the City Charter that prohibits more than one Brian to march in a parade within the city limits at any given time.

The Charter explicitly states:

Marching in a parade is a public trust. Elected officials marching in a parade should treat the privilege as a public trust, using only powers and resources of a parade to advance marching and parading in the public interest, and not to attain personal benefits or pursue any private parading incompatible with the public good.

Had we violated this seldom-used rule, a complaint could have been filed against one of the offending Brians. Council would have then been required to hold a public hearing in order to determine if one of the said Brians was fit for marching in parades.

Simply put, it’s an actionable offense.

It looks like we dodged a bullet today.