Hi, (please read the whole email to get to #1 through #3 and the ACTION
ITEM. Thanks! :) )
It doesn't make me happy to do this, but somebody has to hold the city
council accountable. Ultimately they are the ones accountable for the
agenda not being posted again in a timely manner.
Let me give some background. First off, there is a City Council meeting
next Tuesday, April 1st, no foolin' :) @ 7:00pm like usual @ the regular
place @ 351 W. Center St.
The city employee workweek is Monday through Thursday.
By Utah state law -- see the index at le.utah.gov -- they are not
required to post the complete agenda up till 24 hours before the meeting
(which is a travesty in itself, more about that later.)
The council staff has usually done a good job of getting the agenda up
on the website by 5:00pm on the Thursday before the meeting at
http://www.provo.org/council.meetings_main.html
And more specifically it is not totally the staff member's fault -- why?
the city council staff -- I think there's two of them -- not sure if
there's more than Terry-Ann Harward who's the executive secretary or
director and Tiffany Scheirbel(sp?) who's the legislative assistant.
I know they send the agenda off to a 3rd party that then updates the
council website. Yes they can point the blame at their website updating
person but ultimately the buck stops with how fast the council gets the
agenda to the staff.
Don't you think?
The reason I'm letting you know is to help get this process changed
starting at the top.
#1 - Here are some facts -- by law many of the Public Hearings that are
part of City Council meetings have to be noticed 2 weeks in advance of a
meeting. That's Utah state law.
#2 - So it's not reasonable to say that the council has to wait till the
Thursday before the meeting to finalize the agenda.
I mean -- *think of how many public hearings you've missed where you
would have liken to have spoke out but you weren't able to since we were
all given only a few days notice. * Frankly, it's just not cool for our
local government to be giving us such short notice.
#3 - What do you think about asking them to give us 1 week's notice?
That means that they would have to post the agenda online 1 week before
the meeting instead of only 2 work days before it. Currently i've
talked with one of the state senators and one of the state reps for
Provo about getting a bill on the floor for next year's state
legislative session that would require all city and local governments to
notice their meetings further in advance and to require that IF they
have a website that notify the public on the website. Why? Because
publishing it in the newspaper 1 week in advance is just not very fair
when most people don't take time to peruse the legal section of the
classifieds. A heck of a lot more people check out the city website.
*** *ACTION ITEM: * -- *please call and/or email the city council
members* *asking them to change their process so that they have their
agenda finalized earlier so that we know about things earlier! :)*
Cynthia R. Dayton [EMAIL PROTECTED]
3636 N. 230 E. Provo, UT 84604
(801) 225-6625
Cynthia J. Clark [EMAIL PROTECTED]
968 Fir Ave. Provo, UT 84604
(801) 374-6927
Midge Johnson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
1422 E. 700 S. Provo, UT 84606
(801) 377-2444
Sherrie Hall Everett [EMAIL PROTECTED]
1428 N. 2630 W. Provo, UT 84601
(801) 358-4147
COUNCIL CHAIR Cindy L. Richards [EMAIL PROTECTED]
445 S. 400 W. Provo, UT 84601
(801) 374-1245
COUNCIL VICE CHAIR George Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED]
4174 N. Dover Ln. Provo, UT 84604
(801) 494-7450
Steve Turley [EMAIL PROTECTED]
816 E. 900 S. Provo, UT 84606
(801) 356-2708
I believe that our city council members are friendly people.
I'm not saying any of the above to rail on them -- I just think we need
to encourage them to do a better job.
It's in the public's best interest -- it's in all of interest -- yours
and mind for us to encourage them to keep us informed more and earlier.
_
Early notification to the citizens must be a foundational part of any
good government._
Will you please join with me in contacting them? :)
Thanks, feel free to Bcc me on any of your emails to them.
Have a nice Sunday,
Roger Brown
356-1032
http://ProvoCitizens.net
P.S. I'll send another email on Monday after the agenda is finally up.
Does anybody want to take 15 minutes to help me with that? pretty
please?! :)
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