David Brauer wrote:
In the aftermath of the Ace Hardware issue within Kingfield, I'm trying to
figure out in a timely way how we can better notify interested residents
about issues before the neighborhood board.
Here are a few ideas and questions - though please add your own notions if I
don't touch upon those.
1. Agendas. People have suggested we "lock" our agenda in a week before our
board meeting. (It seems obvious to post it to our website, which we will
do.) Does 7 days seem appropriate? Legit stuff does come up at the last
minute, and the nature of a volunteer organization is that people miss
deadlines - so you run the risk of having a very short agenda and a lot of
"new business." That might falsely raise expectations that everything will
be on the agenda. What's worked for people?
2. Voting procedures. I've been told that at least one neighborhood group
forces two votes on important issues - that way critics get notice of an
official board action and respond/organize before the final vote. The
downside is that everything would have to wait a month between our meetings
- which might be unfair to some businesses and individuals. And this after
they've gone through our committees. Opinions?
Lynnell writes:
1. RE: Agendas: Call me old-fashioned, but I've come to believe in
the old method of having an agenda and then putting the stuff that
comes up at the last minute under "New Business." If you have time
that night, deal with the news business. If not, put it in on the top
of the agenda for the next meeting. The job of the leader is to
figure out which of the new business is most pressing and deal with
it as soon as possible.
I've become a firm believer in this method after watching lone
individuals barge in and take over long-scheduled, carefully-planned
meetings with their particular issue. These are usually folks who
have a) one, single passionate issue; b) are too impatient and
individualistic to actually put their stuff on the agenda ahead of
time or work with others. They just want the mike and they want it
now.
No one should be allowed to take a public meeting hostage. Even for a
noble cause. ( And hell, everyone believes their cause is THE noble
one.) When meetings regularly go out of control (or two hours over
schedule), people start staying away in droves.
2. Voting procedures. I say life belongs to those who show up. If
you post minutes/notices on a web site and at several public places
in your neighborhod--park buildings, coffee shops--that should be
enough. The two vote method seems cumbersome and almost designed to
cause more dissension and reward the procrastinators.
The main killer of public participation is not agendas or poor
communication, but the television set. As I get older, I find myself
taking the long view of history. Which I think will show the
television to be our version of the opium pipe. It's sucked the
energy out of our cultural, political and community life for the last
50 years. I walk the dog around the block most nights, see the blue
light in every living room window and sometimes wonder how different
our world would be if we weren't all toking on the cathode rays.
Lynnell Mickelsen
Ward 13, Linden Hills
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