When it comes to the Greenfield City Council, we believe two meetings are better than one. In the first, residents get the chance to speak their minds about the issues that will be taken up the next day — or in the future. At the second, city councilors can get down to business without pulling a late-nighter.
This change in scheduling makes absolute sense to us.
City Council President Karen “Rudy” Renaud came up with the idea last month. The format worked so well, the council will do it again this month, Dec. 17 and 18.
The aim of the split meetings — the first is technically a special meeting — is to allow people to have sufficient time to speak their minds about issues they feel are important. These are people who are engaged in what is happening in their city or keenly invested in an issue — and want to have an impact on the 13 decision-makers.
Renaud acknowledged a resident’s comment is often limited to two minutes because so many people want to have their say. Sometimes two minutes is not enough time.
“Public comment is an important part of the meeting,” she said. “It’s an opportunity for members of the public to speak to the council as a whole.”
And giving people that opportunity has stretched meetings considerably. As Renaud explained, the agenda usually has quite a few motions, orders and resolutions, but councilors can’t get to them until 9 or 10 p.m. That means meetings can push well past 11 p.m.
Certainly, the public’s desire to speak happened for such key issues as the construction of a new library, zoning changes for the French King Highway Corridor and adoption of the safe city ordinance.
Since the public will only be able to comment at the first meeting, it will speed things along at the second. In addition, a lot of the nitty-gritty procedures such as approving minutes, readings, hearings and appointments can be taken care of during the first session.
Another plus is that city councilors have the chance to listen to their constituents, mull them over and return the next day, as Renaud put it, “fresh and not tired.”
The split sessions also allow this newspaper to meet its deadline to go to press, so we can give readers a complete story in the next day’s edition and online.
City Council Vice President Penny Ricketts predicts many people might want to speak at the Dec. 17 session about funding for the instructional assistants’ contract for the Greenfield school system. While a council vote on this issue won’t happen until January, those concerned about might want to take the floor sooner to voice their concerns.
Then, at the Dec. 18 meeting, councilors will conduct their last business of the year, and for many, their term in office.
The one caveat we see for these back-to-back meetings is that councilors must make a commitment to attend both.
It doesn’t make sense to hear what constituents have to say the first night but not be present to take action at the next. Likewise it wouldn’t be fair for a councilor to be absent for the first meeting but vote at the second without hearing from residents who spoke.
In January, City Council will undergo a large turnover, with a number of veteran councilors leaving office.
Our hope is the new council that will form will continue holding two meetings monthly instead of one. We believe it’s an idea that works.