There's so much more to write, but, frankly, I'm out of steam.
Most of it will wind up in stories later this week.
This is hideous, by the way, having these meetings drag on into the night.
What it really points out is that Bristol should have biweekly council meetings rather than just one a month. It's ridiculous to think that the council can hear from residents and act rationally on a month's worth of business in a few hours one night a month.
I'm not sure why nobody has pushed for a change.
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Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
10 comments:
except for relevant business, announcing committee reports in council session is dumb and takes up too much time. it's usually just a soapbox for council members to talk about themselves. it's even worse when they are running for reelection or higher office.
Actually, you're dumb! The people of this city are always saying that the officials are doing things secretly. Well, here it is for YOU. They're telling YOU what's going on in the city and you don't want to hear it. Apparently you don't listen to the reports, because you would know there's info in there about what's happening in the city with each committee. It's for your benefit. Unbelievable!
We know that the BOE was an exception ... not the rule. The council has had info on this stuff for a while so this is not spur of the moment decision making. Besides, people speaking out of turn only makes things drag on even longer and making long speeches doesn't help either.
those committee reports can easily be filed and published on the city web page instead of giving Councilors an opportunity to talk at length about themselves. The important stuff can be announced, the rest is unnecessary to take up council time.
What gets me is how little honest debate happens among city councilors at these meetings. Occasionally, yes, it happens, but too rarely.
The problem is they are trying to do too much in one meeting to spend any time on the issues they're asked to resolve.
It still has to come before the public, because not everyone reads the city web page and the councilors go into more detail. This is not a self-serving exercise. It's been the city's policy for years and years. I, for one, want to know what is happening with the committees. As far as debating amongst each other, the council meeting is no place for debating issues. Aren't the council meetings long enough? The work they've done during the month culminates in the city council meeting so they're pretty much familiar with the issues except when someone doesn't give them info they've requested. That's when you start to see the more in-depth discussions.
Where does it end? What if people can't make it to city hall for the meeting? (and obviously only a handful of people attend meetings). What if people can't see the meeting on tv? Filing reports serves the same purpose. It sounds to me like you want to guard your favorite councilperson's ability to spout off self-serving rhetoric. Art Ward is good at that.
Can we debate on-line without calling each other names?
"Actually" most people couldn't care less about this city council and their hyperbole.
Why wasn't this an issue before? Because now it's election time and people are picking on any stupid little thing. This is ridiculous! Arguging whether the council should give reports? Come on! It's part of their job whether you like it or not.
Actually, under the charter some items have to be put in the form of a resoultion so they have to be voted on by the full council.
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