Standing besides Mayor Catherine Pugh at a community meeting in West Baltimore last night, City Council President praised the mayor for her leadership (“I’m glad that she’s my partner”) before taking a swipe at the press.

“I’m working along with my Council colleagues – I see Councilman Bullock in the back. We’re just like any other family, you know? We’re a family at City Hall. We have our little disagreements,” Young said, speaking at Carver Vocational-Technical High School to an audience of about 30 residents and many more agency heads and staffers.

“But we don’t want the news media – you can, um, tweet this – to determine how we respond to one another in city government,” he continued. “The more we can keep the news media out of our business, the better we can run this city.”

“So, Madam Mayor, I’m willing to work with you. Yeah, I said it,” he concluded, handing the podium back to Pugh. “I’m willing to work with you to move this city forward.”

Asked this morning for some context for Young’s remarks and what might have sparked his criticism, his spokesman, Lester Davis, has not responded.

UPDATE: Young’s spokesman responds.