----- Original Message ----- From: "B.T.S. - Bill & Diane Wade" < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> As for the negative comments about the closed board meetings.... that is about the only way anything can get done. . . . . . . . If the board was an open meeting, it would last about a week. > > > > > > > > > --------response------------- Bill - You have stated one of the misconceptions of the open meetings idea. These discussions are good for revealing misunderstandings as well as bringing out all the pros and cons of the issue. I know that Michigan (where I live) and New York (where we're incorporated) have open meeting statutes, and I will bet a brass caboose that so do Florida and West Virginia. Probably every other state in the union too.
But these statutes do not allow the public to get involved in the deliberations, nor do I suggest we should. I used to occasionally observe meetings of Michigan's State Transportation Commission. If an interested party knew where to look, he could find a published schedule of the time and place of all their meetings. This six-person body's business would from time to time involve debating and voting on resolutions. The debate was strictly within the 6 members of the commission. They might occasionally direct questions to specific employees of the department of transportation whom they had asked to be present. And, strictly on their own initiative as far as I know, not required by the statute, before voting on a resolution, they would ask if there were any comments from the citizens present. If a citizen had any thing to say he would stand up, speak his piece, and sit down. The commissioners never debated with the citizens, and they could cut off anyone who went on for too long. This may have added time to the meetings, but not a week. I relish the memory of the commission chairman once telling a representative of the outdoor advertising (billboard) lobby who had just spoken that his blustering and talking down to them was not doing his cause any good. And that was the last word, the lobbyist was allowed no come-back. I will try to put a proposal together in writing for an amendment to the constitution, in which every membership's right to attend and observe, in silence unless invited to speak, is guaranteed. Tom Hawley -- Lansing Mich Change your membership, change your message settings, use our CALENDAR, view shared files or photos, view the list archives, GO TO http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/S-Scale/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
