Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Open government, or the lack there of?
The City Council is having the annual Council retreat on Friday. Why Friday? I don't know. Why not Saturday like years past? I don't know. Why is it not on the City's website? I don't know. (but if you wanted to hear about the budget retreat in june 2010 you can see that notice on the city site.) How is this an example of open government? I don't know. Maybe someone can explain it to me.
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I see this quite often in the workplace. I wonder how much of this from the city council is an intentional lack of transparency, and how much of it is simply poor planning? Failing to plan for meetings far enough in advance to get the 'regular' location and having to settle for alternate rooms of the same size in other locations, or on different dates could explain something like this.
ReplyDeletePerhaps someone on the city council could enlighten us on how far in advance meeting spaces are booked, and what causes the location and dates to shift?
why does the city council need a "retreat" ? This isn't one of those vegas junkits, is it? Seems like a waste of time and money to me. What needs to be discussed that can't be discussed during a regular council workshop and meeting?
ReplyDeleteBart,
ReplyDeleteThe date and day were discussed at the first council meeting in December. So the City has had at least a month to get a location. They scheduled this knowing that at least one council member would not be available because of work.
The date was chosen before the discussion of the venue.
Anonymous,
I would hope that they are not going to Vegas. In all honesty I think they are meeting in town somewhere. But youdo raise a good question about why this can't be done at a council workshop.
And do they really think any citizen will take the day off to go to this meeting...Oh, wait...that makes me wonder...
Bart,
ReplyDeleteThe difference between lack of transparency in the workplace and the government is that with the government, it's criminal. Public employees go through extensive training to know that informing the public is their number one priority and the city of Duvall has been reminded of this multiple times over the past couple of years. It's not a case of "oops, slipped my mind to post a notice" Certainly makes me wonder what they need to hide this year.
Well in the interest of fairness, the City of Duvall did put a notice in the Seattle Times today that announced the meeting that starts in about 40 hours.
ReplyDeleteWhile this does technically fulfill the requirement of public notice it seems like the least the city could do. Only about 32% of people in Duvall get the Seattle Times.
Of those of you who do get it, how many of you read the public notices?
How many of you are going to take the day off of work and attend?
It worries me when the government does the least it can to fulfill the legal requirement when it is in the best interest of the people but oversteps so much when it is in the best interest of the government
I get the Seattle Times, but have never seen the public notices. Where are they published? They used to be published in the River Current, but I haven't seen a River Current in months.
ReplyDeleteGenerally they are published in the back of the sports page.
ReplyDeleteThe City decided to no longer print local notices in the city's only newspaper (the River Current News) last year. The reason was because they could not get things published fast enough. (or it could be that about that time the paper started to cover the city more closely)
For those who want to subscribe to the River Current they should go to www.rivercurrentnews.com
Hey Thomas,
ReplyDeleteI see that the City has now put the notice of the meeting and the agenda on the city website. Apparently someone at the city is reading your blog.
How much do you want to bet that the Council will say well no one showed up to the meeting people don't care what we do.
Perhaps the reason that people didn't go is because they only heard about it today and I can't get the day off. It really is government doing the least they can do to fulfill the requirements of the law. It is really sad that they are so afraid to be open about what they are talking about. If I was discussing the items they put on the agenda I would be trying to hide it too.
It is sad that there was not more notice of the meeting. I had hoped that there would be more notice given to the citizens, they deserve it.
ReplyDeleteI saw on the agenda that they were going to discuss municipal debt. Does the city have a lot of debt and are they struggling? I know a lot of other municipalities are struggling to pay debt and their bond ratings are suffering. There's no market now to refinance, which means it will be the taxpayers paying more. Does anyone know what they discussed?
ReplyDeleteHey, I just went to the city website to look up Glen Kuntz's contact information. I usually get the scoop from him. But he's not listed as a city councilmember? Did something happen?
ReplyDeleteI just saw on the Jan 27 council meeting agenda on the website that they are going to discuss the process for filling an open position. Did Glen quit?
ReplyDeleteI hope he didn't quit, he's one of the only sane ones on the council. The city and council must be really screwed up if he quit, he's been part of city government for at least the 10 years I've been here.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with Jodee Lee at City hall and she explained that Councilmember Kuntz has resigned from the City Council. She did not know the reason why but she explained that they have posted the opening today on the city website.
ReplyDeleteGlen has been involved in city government for many years and brought his own flair to the Council.
I liked his flair. The few times I've been to council meetings he really kept the whackjob in line. Any time she started harping on a really dumb idea, he'd lose patience and shut her down with one look. Remember how great he was with Broadstrip too.
ReplyDeleteSo now I have to ask...Who do you think is the whackjob?
ReplyDeleteThe one who wants to turn Duvall into a commune where we all grow and share our own food and reduce our carbon footprint by not working outside the home.
ReplyDeleteI suppose the Duvall festival each year will be renamed to 'Duvall Daze' at this persons suggestion?
ReplyDeleteI think she already suggested it for last year. Fortunately the city is less involved in Duvall Days planning
ReplyDelete