Revised January 7, 2025
Convincing residents to speak at a city council meeting on almost anything is a challenge, unless it directly affects their property. Explanations vary from busy schedules to general discomfort when speaking on camera. Now there is another reason: A council member who implied he does not want to be bothered by people bringing their “beef” before the council.
On November 25, Shorewood Council member Maddy shared his thoughts regarding residents speaking at matters from the floor. Read his words below:
“I’ve never been a big fan of this. Back in planning, we had public hearings and people talked about an issue and I learned a lot. On council, we get people who come here and try to, they don’t even look at us, they look at the crowd, the camera and we lend our mouthpiece to people who show up just to, to show up and talk at us. There’s 8000 other people in this community who don’t have a lot of time to come to meetings. I don’t want to forget them.
I don’t want to give way too much airtime to people who have the time to come up here, and whatever their beef is…I’m a huge fan to limit it. Just give us an email. Emails work a lot better than grandstanding which is mostly what I see in council chambers…a lot of times I just see grandstanding. I’m not a big fan of that and I don’t like our highest paid staff having to sit through that.
Only those who have time to show up can, I get great emails from constituents who don’t have time to show up at meetings.”
*Note: Emails sent to individual council members do not become public record unless the member submits the email in a public meeting.
This is not Maddy’s first time he let his disrespect be known. Watch his 2023 comments here.
If and how the public is allowed to comment at Shorewood city council meetings has been contentious among council members for at least three years. Maddy’s disdainful comments show him to prefer strong restrictions on residents. Some other council members support more time for residents to speak, or at least, to allow more flexibility.
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More background reading:
Council Meeting Structure & Matters from the Floor
A Council Tied in Knots Over Hearing From Residents
