Especially where meeting times are concerned.
I’m hearin’ that many people believe that the council and
city admin are “hiding” what they are doing from the citizens.
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| Is this Sorry-Charlie Youngs???!! Nahhhh |
There will always be a certain amount of distrust from some
where government and leadership are concerned, particularly if some don’t get
their way or if some get surprised by government decisions.
Over the past several years, however, that distrust has
seemed to spike in public opinion and hence the increased heartburn.
Part of
that is connected to the fact that the city council did NOT ask the people
about whether or not to go with FATHOM for utility building. Enter more than a
year’s fiasco of issues and heartburn which will linger for years to come.
(The other side of the
story: Does Oncor or Atmos “ask” its customers if they do or don’t want new
meters, etc.? Nope. Years ago, Oncor simply replaced all the electric meters
without asking anyone.
Similar with the city’s water and sewer funding – it is
a “business” fund. The city then took out the $7 million loan to purchase the
water meters with the council’s okay and this will be repaid from the water and
sewer fund.
Although most
garden-variety citizens do not understand how these funds work – FATHOM is not
paid for by property taxes nor the general fund – there still lies the
heartburn that the city council and city administration “snuck” this around the
people. Despite the fact this was held in open meetings and letters sent to
customers and local new reported on this extensively.
And then there’s the
Business 190 project which has been in the works for years and been publicized extensively
by the news media covering meetings for a good three years, at least. Still,
some people are discovering this for the first time and are crying “coverup”.)
Curmudgeon wrote all this to say that, dear city council, it
would do well for you to meet the citizens halfway.
When planning meetings and times, it appears as though the
city council and administration have forgotten the meetings are NOT just between
them. There is a third party involved – the citizen who feels that they are not
invited to the table.
Now, hold on a second – I can hear you now, dear city
council, “Well, there’s open meetings and they’re publicized and televised and advertised,”
blah blah blah.
Yes, you are right! Curmudgeon firmly believes that if an
issue is important enough to someone, he or she will MAKE THE TIME TO SHOW UP.
Curmudgeon believes that MAKING THE TIME TO SHOW UP AND BE
HEARD is much more than ranting on Facebook and making coy threats. It is
clearing your schedule, composing thoughtful emails, doing your research before
trying to make your point. Advancing your cause and ideas in the government
takes work and many people are not able or willing to see it through other than
whining and complaining.
Curmudgeon gets that. Curmudgeon loves research. It is
important to glean nuggets of the FACTS about an issue that can dispel rumors
and wrong theories.
So what does this all have to do with meeting times and making
the people feel more involved?
Did you all know that city council meetings used to be
scheduled for 7 p.m.?
Yeppers.
But that was all changed on March 19, 2012, when at a special meeting the city
council directed the city staff to change the meeting time to 6 p.m.
According to the April 3, 2012 city council meeting minutes,
“The basis for the requests are an earlier time would allow employees and
guests more “evening” and less disruptive time with families.”
Please see the image below of the meeting minutes.
So part of the basis for the change was to give city employees
more ‘family time.” The city ordinance about meetings and orders of
business was then changed on April 3, 2012 officially.
However, city department heads who attend meetings are well
aware that part of their job description is sometimes having evening hours for those meetings.
Where
other employees are concerned, what is two regular meetings per month to come
for a recognition or a workshop? Or in the case of recognition, once every five years?
Curmudgeon calls on the current Copperas Cove city council
to consider changing this time back to 7 p.m. for the regular council meetings
and 6 p.m. for workshops and recognitions.
Curmudgeon is aware of the apathy among many citizens. They complain
but don’t MAKE THE TIME to show up. They seem to love to be unhappy and find something to complain about.
HOWEVER, increasingly, more and more, Curmudgeon is hearing
the perception that the city council and city administration are trying to “sneak things” by
the people. This is apparent in having daytime meetings and meetings during
when “regular working people” are not free.
Curmudgeon believes this gesture of changing the meeting
times back to what they used to be, would go a LONG WAY to curing some of that
perception that is created. Please, consider it.
Would it help your decision if
Curmudgeon reminds the council that this was an idea Andrea Gardner brought to
you all? (Ha ha ha….well, I thought it was funny, since the overarching opinion
of the council was that she needed to go and all of “her” decisions must be
reversed.)
Peace, love, and bunnies y’all – I’m dustin’ off my rabbit
ears.
More about that next week!
Curmudgeon out.
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