The City replaced the plastic fence with this metal wire and T posts in their continued efforts to keep folks off the street.
Here are two agendas, with my agenda analysis and my meeting analysis underneath. Also, here is some of my commentary on the Preamble to the Constitution and how it instructs us during this time of government reform.
A. Agenda analysis
The December 2 meeting is one that I have described elsewhere as a "stock agenda". There is no new business for this meeting. That said, the "Administrative Report" is often one of the most informative parts of the meeting. And, the "Daily operations update" is when you can learn about the physical plant operations of the City. Always worthwhile. Folks don't know how complex running even a small city is until you regularly listen to this part of the meeting.
The November 25 "Special Called" meeting - A "special" meeting is just one that is not regularly scheduled and is for a specific purpose.
First Amendment priority: Note that in both types of meetings (special and stock where there is no new business), the Council has still has to have a section of the meeting dedicated to "public comment". The Open Meetings Act makes this a requirement for all public meetings. Our laws give special priority to citizen free speech, and that priority exists for all public meetings, including school board meetings. (You tend not to think about this until the 1st Amendment is taken away from you!)
B. Meeting analysis 1. December 2 meeting:
a. Here are the meeting documents for this meeting.
b. No new business: As stated in my agenda analysis above, the agenda showed there was no new business at this meeting. The Council did approve several meetings worth of minutes, and I always recommend reading minutes of meetings to get a sense of what government does. After that, read my comment below for what government is supposed to be doing.
2. Nov. 25 meeting:
a. Health Ins, item 5: The Council voted to reduce its costs for employee health ins. by moving to TML Health.
b. Waive the pay, item 6: Council members and the Mayor get paid for attending meetings, and they have an understanding among them that for very short meetings they will not ask for pay. This meeting was about 5 minutes long, and the motion to waive the pay was made by Councilmember Holland, a strong proponent of keeping council member pay. I'm pleased to see the Council stick to their understanding that they would use their discretion and not charge taxpayers for brief meetings.
Commentary As our country goes full tilt this January in Washington toward all sorts of governmental reform, along with our state legislature beginning its next biennium at the same time, I think it worthwhile to reflect on our Preamble to the US Constitution. "We the people" means it is our preamble, our constitution, our law. The language goes, in part, "We the People of the United States, in Order to...promote the general Welfare..."
Now, stop right there at the word "general". My legal training compels me to look it up and write a brief on it with full legal citations. (I used to do a lot of that kind of writing!) But, I think you already have in your mind what "general" means. And "Welfare"? I think "well-being" is close enough for these purposes.
Remember this about our Constitution: it was written before our two party ideologies were enshrined in our national zeitgeist . The drafters were looking for a way to make government function for the well being of all. Not a few. Not the wealthy. Not the poor. Not Republicans, not Democrats. All. Everyone. The Constitution of the U.S. obligates our elected representatives, from the President down to the level of our school board members and our city council members, to look out for the well being of all of us. It is, on its face, an impossible ideal to achieve. At best, the well being of all is aspirational. But, the language is enshrined in our Preamble...when political ideologies were not enshrined in the very same document. So, ask yourself, if government has this lofty goal of looking out for the well being of all of us, at the same time, how is it doing at this goal?
Then ask yourself, if you are a dissatisfied citizen, what are you doing about it? And ask yourself, if you are part of our government, whether your are a groundskeeper or you hold an elected office, what are you doing to achieve this goal? You might be thinking, "I can't achieve that goal," and my response is, "That is the point". You have to keep trying. We all do. That is the profound obligation our Founders placed upon us all.
Here is more reading about the Preamble, if you would like to mull this over some more. I hope you will.
Copyright 2024 G Noelke