Revised April 28th, 2024
“Every resident should be welcome, feel welcome, approached kindly, listened to, actually considered, and given the same amount of time on the floor as millionaire developers.” – Shorewood Resident (name withheld at their request).
At a 2023 council meeting the Matters from the Floor (MFTF) format was vigorously debated. Watch the discussion starting at hr. 2:04:10. Additional reading at source: 4-10-23 City Council Work Session Minutes, p. 3-6
Meanwhile…even when MFTF segments may be “painful” (watch the 4.10.23 work session starting at hr. 2:04:14), a majority of the Council vigorously debated and mostly resisted allowing any changes to the the three minute, no Q&A, format now in place. In fact, Maddy said if it were up to him there would be no public comment at any regular council meeting. He didn’t stop there:
“Never have I learned anything from Matters From the Floor. It’s just people complaining about stuff that is off topic…People in the audience paid money for code analysis for what they are proposing. People who care about what’s on the agenda, not what other people are complaining about.” — Council member Maddy, watch it here (start at 2:04:30)
Sanschagrin disagreed, saying residents had a right to be heard and it was the Council’s job to listen, no matter how unpleasant.
This conversation about residents being allowed to speak at Council meetings is not new. Going back to the Sept. 13, 2021 regular meeting, where the hybrid meeting option was being discussed, council members felt if any matter was important enough, residents could show up at City Hall and speak in person.
They elaborated on their “fear” of answering emails and returning phone calls, due to irate residents. One incorrectly stated that talking with a resident about city business violated the Open Meeting Law. Note: A majority of the Council (quorum) must be present to for this scenario to violate the open meeting law.
Some Council members support exercising strong controls about resident communication at Council meetings because, as they say, in the past, several residents were perceived as disrespectful to the Council at MFTF.
Another work session was held in Fall 2023 to “pound out rules” for MFTH. Read the list of criteria here.
Note: The open meeting law does not guarantee public input at meetings. It is at the council’s discretion.
I guess I didn’t perceive that they are “tied in knots”. There is some disagreement on the council which is to be expected but allowing unlimited time or expecting an immediate response is probably not realistic.
Second try…maybe I did something wrong the first time
I did not take away that the council is “tied in knots”. Obviously there are different points of view on the council as in the rest of the world but I would agree that the issues brought to the floor may be complex and it would not be productive to try to answer immediately. I think I heard that at least they would respond right after the 3 minutes with something although it will usually be “we will get back to you later”. Also I agree with a time limit. The council give us a lot of their time. I think we should respect their time.