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Here are some of the behind-the-scenes items going on at the Fremont City Council meeting this week:

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The council knows it as Ordinance 5165.  The public refers to it as the illegal immigration law.

The city council faced a packed crowd last night -- many of the taxpayers were uncertain if the elected officials would follow the will of the people.

The council was in the unusual position of implementing policy rather than creating it.

Usually council members are the policy makers and the city administrator makes sure their ideas are put to work.  But since the voters approved the illegal immigration ordinance, the council had to wear a different hat.  They took a detour though -- and delayed the implementation to allow the courts to sort it out first. 

Fremont hopes to save in legal fees by doing it this way.

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At one point during the public hearing, the city began polling the audience as to whether they supported the public comments made by the speaker. 

If they did, they were asked to raise their hands.

After the meeting, some people in the crowd told me they thought that was a pointless exercise considering there were only 90-people allowed in the small room, yet the council members represent all 25,000 people in the city.

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I also learned something from the by-laws of the city referred to as Rule 6.  Profanity and Raising of the Voices were forbidden.  That seems fairly common when it comes to the hundreds of public meetings I've covered over the years.

The Rule was mentioned after a couple speakers, using salty language, said they couldn't trust the council members

After an executive session, the city administrator expressed his disappointment at the disrespect shown earlier from the public.

Later, at least two people jokingly said they thought he raised his voice while pointing this out.