Addressing Council During Council Meetings

 As of the start of 2011, Minerva Park Council follows a restrictive set of rules regarding citizen comments during Council Meetings.


To give this legislation some credit, several neighboring communities include some structure for citizen input in their Council Meetings. In contrast, these neighboring communities have populations 10x the size of our village, and thus substantially more citizens to hear. In their case, cards or time limits are in the interest of allowing everyone a fair chance to speak.



Let's look at a few facts...
Minerva Park was incorporated into a Village in 1940.
I don't have the previous Rules of Council before me, but I'm assuming that this elaborate system for citizen comments is something entirely new. If nothing else, the comment cards are.
This means that the Village had operated for 60 years without these constricting rules.


While it is understood that Council Meetings are a time of business for our Village government, they are beginning to widen the gap between government action and resident interest and concern. True, our Council Meetings need some organization about them and business practice, but isn't the Council a creation to preserve the interests and aid the concerns of its residents?


Our community's population is estimated at 1,400. Are the following, lengthy rules necessary with 1,400 residents?


Is the coincidence with growing dissent in the community truly a coincidence, or is it perhaps an attempt to manage community input in the public setting?


Yes, the Rules of Council and the website of our village encourage residents to create appointments with the members of council or the Mayor, but these appointments are behind closed doors, where dissenting or opposing opinion won't be heard by other residents.

The new "Citizen Comment Cards" appear as follows:

Let's have another look at all of these rules per our citizen comments:

Citizen Comments During Council Meetings
Council meetings are public business meetings of the Minerva Park Council. As such, all citizen comments must pertain to current issues and topics of business before council. Citizens wishing to address council at a Council Meeting must sign in and complete a Citizen Comments Card. The Citizen Comments Card includes the name and address of the citizen and what specific topic/committee report the citizen wishes to address. The citizen then gives the President of Council the card before the meeting begins. Throughout the meeting, when the appropriate topic comes up in the agenda (guest speaker, individual report or committee report), the citizen will be recognized by the Mayor. The citizen then has three minutes to address the council on a topic that relates directly to that committee or topic at hand. At the discretion of the Mayor there can be
discussion surrounding the topic. However, realizing that the council meeting is a business meeting, the discussion should always directly pertain to the business at hand. 

If it appears that the topic is not specific to the business before council or the committee, the citizen will not be recognized until the end of the meeting at a general Citizen Comments time. Any citizen speaking at that time will have a maximum of three minutes to address council. No citizen will have more than nine minutes at any council meeting.

As always, citizens are encouraged to make an appointment to speak with the Mayor or any member of Council about general issues of the Village. In addition to the Citizen Comments Card, the Mayor or President of Council may recognize any nonmember of council for the purpose of asking a brief question that clarifies for the citizen the topic before council.

Speakers must be courteous and avoid discussion of personalities. If at any meeting, any person becomes discourteous or undertakes a discussion of personalities, the Mayor or president pro tempore of council may request that he/she return to the topic at hand and speak with courtesy. If the person refuses, the mayor or president pro tempore of council can ask that the person surrender the floor and /or leave the meeting. If the person refuses, the mayor or president pro tempore of council can ask the Police Officer (if one is present) to escort the person out of the room. The person can return when the Police Officer determines appropriate. However, if the same actions continue, the person shall be expelled permanently from that meeting.



 In other words, Citizens must:

• Fill out a card giving name and address
• Specify their concerns
• Limit their concerns to topics brought up by council
• Limit themselves to 3 minutes per issue, and 9 minutes total per meeting

Also, if one doesn't comply they can be removed by Police force.


Further within the 2011 Rules of Council, it is noted:

 There are quarterly “Coffee with Council” meetings during the year when citizens can meet with members
of council to discuss any topic that is of concern.

However, in a recent Council Meeting, there was some discrepancy about what was discussed and stated in last quarter's "Coffee with Council" and the events after "Coffee with Council". This particular statement involved issues of  funding.

If this is going to be the case, what is the point of these meetings? Are they merely a formality to make it appear as though the Council is "listening"?




Now, let's compare our practices with neighboring communities...


Columbus, Ohio
Population Estimate (2006): 733,203
Their rules, as expected given the population, are somewhat more limiting. They require citizens to have their speaker slips filled out by 5pm the day of the meeting. Citizens are allowed 2 speaker slips, one of which may be a non-agenda matter. 
The speakers are limited to 3 minutes, however their rules explicitly state that any of these rules may be disposed of by a majority vote.


Rules for Speaking Before Columbus City Council can be found here:
http://council.columbus.gov/content.aspx?id=7930

Dublin, Ohio

Population Estimate (2006): 36,565
To speak residents must state their name and address, and remarks are limited to the question under discussion. All speakers, public and elected, must limit themselves to five minutes, and residents must be addressed by the Chair to speak.


Dublin's Rules of Council can be found here:

http://www.dublin.oh.us/council/rules/

Westerville, Ohio
Population Estimate (2006): 34,971
Reads:

The Council Agenda shall provide the citizens comments
at all regular Council meetings on any matter. The Chairman may apply reasonable limitations
and extensions to the citizens comments.


Rules of Westerville City Council can be found here:
http://www.westerville.org/Portals/0/Council%20By-laws.pdf


Gahanna, Ohio
Population Estimate (2006): 33,080
On audience participation:

Can I address the Council Members during a Council meeting?
Yes. Audience members may make comments to the Council and Mayor during the Hearing of Visitors portion of the agenda or during Public Hearings by filling out a comment card provided by Council staff. Audience members will be called by name to the lectern when it is their turn to speak. Comments are limited to three minutes. There is no comment period at Committee meetings, although the public is welcome to attend.
Found here:

http://www.gahanna.gov/citycouncil/

Also of note, Gahanna has a very well presented calendar where meetings, agendas, and minutes can all be found in one location:

http://gahanna.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx

Dublin, Ohio
Population Estimate (2006): 32,100
"A person in the audience who wishes to speak shall first be recognized by the Mayor.  Upon being recognized, such person shall give his name and address."
Found: 
http://www.conwaygreene.com/Delaware/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=main-h.htm&2.0


Worthington, Ohio
Population Estimate (2006): 13,250
The Council Rules indicate that speakers must fill out a slip. There is no time limit but allowed time varies by President of Council's discretion.

Their rules can be found here:
http://www.worthington.org/uploads/File/2010_city_council/City_Council_Meeting_Guide.pdf

Bexley, Ohio
Population Estimate (2006): 12,376
Their Ordinance on Council Rules includes:

Rule 6. Privilege of Floor. No person except members of Council and City officials shall
be permitted to speak or to take part in the proceedings of Council unless special permission
therefor is granted by Council.

Their Ordinance is found here: (the file titled C-ADMIN contains their Rules of Council)

http://bexley.org/govt/public-docs/cat_view/177-city-council/222-laws-a-codified-ordinances


When comparing these communities, keep in mind their population size. Realistically, none of these compare fairly with our population.
A closer comparison may be The Village of Galena. Their estimated population (2006) was 519, much smaller than our neighborhood in comparison, however their meeting minutes are posted online. I couldn't find their Rules of Council on their website, http://galenaohio.org/council.html.

Perhaps for a better baseline comparison we would have to look to other villages with populations similar to ours, but as stated before our community existed for 60 years without needing comment cards to control our inputs in council meetings? Regardless of other communities practices, do we, a village with a population of 1,400, need to limit public address during council meetings?

From what I've seen, this is more a practice of control than fairness.


All population estimates are from the U.S. Census Bureau's website.

Highlights of 2011 Rules of Council

The 2011 Rules of Council for the Village of Minerva Park were adopted November 8, 2010 in the November council meeting. They are effective through December 31, 2011. 

The document containing this legislation can be found at http://www.minervapark.org/legislation/2011/2011_rules.pdf.

All Minerva Park legislation that is published on their website can be found at http://www.minervapark.org/legislation/index.htm.

I encourage all to read the entire document, but there are some points that are of particular interest. The following omits large portions of the document, for a complete reading, see the above link.

Work/Study Sessions
Work/Study sessions of council shall be held as needed at the Community Building or inany other public place within the corporate limits of the Village of Minerva Park.
Work/Study sessions may be continued following the regular session of the council at the discretion of the mayor or in his/her absence, the president pro tempore. All council members should be notified of work/study sessions by mail or phone at least 24 hours in advance. All meetings shall be open to the general public and notification shall be made in accordance with the section "Postings of Regular, Special, and Work/Study Session Meetings" of these rules and in compliance with the Ohio Revised Code.

There shall be no public discussion or participation in deliberations of council in its work/study sessions. However, specific residents or other individuals may be deliberately invited to participate in a work/study session when the topic of the work/study session directly relates to that citizen or individual. No resolution, regulation, rule, ordinance or formal action of any kind shall be adopted at a work/study session.


Postings of Regular, Special, and Work/Study Session Meetings
The Clerk-Treasurer is responsible for posting notices of regular and special meetings.
Special meetings and Work Session announcements must be placed in the following
locations at least 24 hours before the scheduled meeting:
• In the community building on the inside board
• On the community building front window.
• In or on the official board of the community outside of the community building
• in or on the board at the playground area on Maplewood Road
• In or on the board at the pool
In addition:
• The Columbus Dispatch must also be notified by fax at 461-7580 attention: Kirk D.
Richards.
• Any citizen can request in writing to be notified when there are special meetings and
we will comply with that request.
The Clerk-Treasurer keeps a list of all those who have done so as well as the manner in which they would like to be notified.
Should the Clerk-Treasurer be out of town, the Mayor's Administrative Assistant, the President of Council, or any council member can also post the announcements.


Appeals from Decisions of the Chair
The mayor or president pro tempore of council shall preserve decorum and decide all question of order, subject to appeal to council. If any member transgresses the rules of council, the chair shall, or any member may, call him/her to order and in the latter instance the chair shall render a decision as to the point of order. In case of an appeal from a ruling of the chair, the question shall be “Shall the decision of the chair stand as the decision of council?" The chair shall be sustained unless overruled by a majority vote of the members of council present.


Limitation of Debate
Members of council shall confine themselves to a maximum of twenty (20) minutes of time on a single topic.


Voting
Every member present when a question or motion is put shall vote on same. Abstentions are discouraged, however, should a council member abstain from voting, he/she should state their reason to be reflected in the minutes. If a council member knows he/she should abstain because there is a conflict of interest, he/she may should state that there is a conflict of interest before discussion begins. The council member then leaves the room during discussion and voting.



Citizen Comments During Council Meetings
Council meetings are public business meetings of the Minerva Park Council. As such, all citizen comments must pertain to current issues and topics of business before council.

Citizens wishing to address council at a Council Meeting must sign in and complete a Citizen Comments Card. The Citizen Comments Card includes the name and address of the citizen and what specific topic/committee report the citizen wishes to address. The citizen then gives the President of Council the card before the meeting begins. (More on these in another post)

Throughout the meeting, when the appropriate topic comes up in the agenda (guest speaker, individual report or committee report), the citizen will be recognized by the Mayor. The citizen then has three minutes to address the council on a topic that relates directly to that committee or topic at hand. At the discretion of the Mayor there can be discussion surrounding the topic. However, realizing that the council meeting is a business meeting, the discussion should always directly pertain to the business at hand.

If it appears that the topic is not specific to the business before council or the committee, the citizen will not be recognized until the end of the meeting at a general Citizen Comments time. Any citizen speaking at that time will have a maximum of three minutes to address council. No citizen will have more than nine minutes at any council meeting.
As always, citizens are encouraged to make an appointment to speak with the Mayor or any member of Council about general issues of the Village.

In addition to the Citizen Comments Card, the Mayor or President of Council may recognize any nonmember of council for the purpose of asking a brief question that clarifies for the citizen the topic before council.

[...]

Speakers must be courteous and avoid discussion of personalities. If at any meeting, any person becomes discourteous or undertakes a discussion of personalities, the Mayor or president pro tempore of council may request that he/she return to the topic at hand and speak with courtesy. If the person refuses, the mayor or president pro tempore of council can ask that the person surrender the floor and /or leave the meeting. If the person refuses, the mayor or president pro tempore of council can ask the Police Officer (if one is present) to escort the person out of the room. The person can return when the Police Officer determines appropriate. However, if the same actions continue, the person shall be expelled permanently from that meeting.

Motion to Suspend Rules and Votes Required
A motion to accept a reading of a piece of legislation or to pass legislation requires two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members of council. Minerva Park Village council has six members on council; four votes are needed to accept a reading of a piece of legislation or to pass legislation.

A motion to pass legislation as emergency legislation requires two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members of council. Minerva Park Village council has six members on council; four votes are needed to pass legislation as emergency legislation.

A motion to suspend the rule which requires council to accept three (3) readings on three separate days must receive by roll call vote the affirmative vote of three-fourths (3/4) of the members elected or appointed to council. Minerva Park Village council has six members on council; three fourths of council shall be deemed to be five members supporting the motion to suspend the rule. Upon the passage of such motion, the main
question or motion shall be open to debate.

A majority of members of council present without debate may suspend all other rules.


Ordinances and Resolutions
Each ordinance and resolution shall be read by title only, provided the council may require any reading to be in full by a majority vote of its members. Each ordinance or resolution shall be read on three different days, provided the council may dispense with this role by a vote of at least three fourths of its members. See Motion to Suspend Rules.

Ordinances, resolutions, and motions not receiving a second to be passed shall be deemed to have been defeated and will be declared lost.

From time to time, council makes corrections on ordinances or resolutions as they are presented to council. If these corrections are simply typographical or to clarify a matter, which might appear ambiguous to some by reading the same, it may be corrected after it is passed. However, if the change is substantive in nature as to what is being legislated, that piece of legislation should be withdrawn and new legislation presented which accurately states the purpose and intent of the legislation. In all cases, the public and the citizens must have time to review and analyze said substantial corrections or changes to legislation.


Executive Session
In line with the Ohio Sunshine Laws 2008: An Open Government Resource Manual, all council meetings, special meetings, work sessions, and all meetings of any committee are declared to be public meetings open to the public at all times. There are limited exemptions in the case when deliberations and discussions should not be heard and observed by the public. In those limited cases, council can go into executive session as
specified in the Ohio Revised Code section 121.22.

Council may hold an executive session only after a majority of a quorum of council determines, by a roll call vote, to hold an executive session for the sole purpose of the consideration of any of the following matters:

[...see omissions on  page 11-page 13 http://www.minervapark.org/legislation/2011/2011_rules.pdf ...]

Committee Meetings
Each committee chairperson shall have the authority to call meetings of their committee as deemed necessary and desirable, and to notify the mayor and clerk as to the date, time and place of the said meetings. Meetings should be held in the community building or other public building so as to allow any interested citizens to attend.

The clerk shall then post notification of the committee meeting at the Community Building as soon as notified of such meeting and never later than 24 hours before the meeting is to begin and any other notification required by Ohio Revised Code and Sunshine Laws.

[...]

The rules continue to describe the positions and duties of Committee members. There is enough substance here for a separate post, so for clarity it will be left for another one. 


While legislation in general is sometimes a more overbearing read than a good novel, it is worth your time to read the 15 pages of the Rules of Council. 

Stay informed!!

Speedy Legislation

There seems to be a pattern among Minerva Park legislation practice. Issues, regardless of importance for our purposes here, are treated in a less than up-front manner.

Ohio law allows for legislative authorities to move issues through without presenting them to the public in three separate readings. One would assume this was established with the interest of time sensitive, unpredicted matters. There are indeed times when legislation is "necessary for the public health, safety, and welfare of the residents" and must "take effect and shall be in force upon its passage."

However, I sincerely doubt that the Ohio Revised Code intended for this "declaration of emergency" or dispensation of the three separate readings was intended to speed along topics such as installing vending machines, increasing pay ranges, or widening road construction (a project that has yet to be presented, four months after being declared an emergency to be effected upon its passage in October). At least not for the instances which Minerva Park has implemented it.

Regardless of the importance of legislative measures, right or wrong issues, truly emergency or not, Minerva Park has a record of both declaring a large percent of issues an emergency, and waiving readings -OR- holding readings on dates other than the "Council Meetings" held the second Monday of each month.

I will save the questioning of "emergency" merit for another post, for now, let's look at the numbers.

The legislative documents where this data originates can be found at http://www.minervapark.org/legislation/index.htm. I will begin here with just data from 2010, to get an example of what last year held in our community's behind-closed-doors politics.

There are 43 Resolutions and 6 Ordinances listed for 2010. As of today, there were two Resolutions that were inaccessible via the internet, but listed on the Village website. For this data, these two are excluded.

Of the 43 Resolutions, 3 of them are pertaining to the same issue and list the same dates, so for these purposes, they are counted as one.

This leaves us with a total of 39 pieces of legislation for the 2010 year in Minerva Park, per the Village website.

Out of 39 legislative documents:

Labeled Emergency:
22   (56%)

All three readings waived:
14   (36%)

Two readings waived:
1    (2%)- this particular resolution was read the same date of passage, technically I'm not sure the difference between this and waiving all three readings, Council, would you like to explain?

One reading waived:
3   (7%)

Dates read include non-routine, non-public Council Meetings:
6   (15%)

Labeled "Take effect upon passage":
3   (7%)

Presented as "typical" legislation: 
(Read three times at the scheduled, public Council Meetings, not declared emergency nor to take effect upon passage)
17   (43%)


Out of 39 legislative documents, over the course of 12 months.


The 2005-2009 Census Estimate puts 1,389 people in our community. With a population of roughly 1,400, is a 56% reliance on "emergency" declaration and practice of waiving all three readings 36% of the time necessary? Isn't our government prepared with routine renewals and proposals? Shouldn't the government present issues for the people, with a reasonable duration to allow for people to be aware, without having to babysit their elected officials?

As of now, I feel as though Minerva Park politics is held in a way that almost covers up its goings on and presents the community with a one-sided, this-is-what-you-want-to-hear answer for everything. Unless citizens are truly pro-active, and think critically, they won't know what is going on with their tax dollars, their police force, or their community itself.

Part of this stems from the legislative body's tendency to rush items through the legislation process. If community members don't watch over the Village website, attend each Council Meeting, or have coffee with their representatives, they have NO say in the way their tax dollars are spent, and typically no awareness of it either.

It is a shame to live in a community with such history, such beauty, and feel as though our government is abusing its power, much like a "high school hierarchy".

Clearing the Drains

Having grown up in Minerva Park, I have many memories of days filled with beech trees, white squirrels, and neighborhood streets.

I remember one particular day, playing in the rain soaked street, pant legs drenched in muddy water. My best friend and I were splashing about in the puddles, having some now old-fashioned childhood fun, when a man who seemed far too aged to brave the weather descended into the street.

He precariously bent down to the drain cover that sewed his lawn and the street and began to clear the debris that had accumulated since the last rain. When he crossed the street and continued to clear the one on the corner en face his lot, my friend and I had grown curious. Why was this man, fatigued by the act of even bending over, coming out in a rain storm to clear the drains? Couldn't it wait? So, as young children often do, we asked.

"I'm going to take a bath" he said, as though we six-year-olds understood hydraulics. We agreed, "Ohhhh", looked at each other with a puzzled expression, and helped him clear the drains.

This particular man, forgive me because I don't clearly remember his name, astounded his neighbors. He was still driving in his 90s, and sometimes you'd have to look twice to see if there were actually a man behind the wheel, but sure enough he was there.
He lived a long life in his house on Wildwood Road, but eventually, after he'd reached the 100 mark, he retired to an assisted living facility and I believe soon passed.

I'd like to think that my friend and I faithfully cleared the drains in the rain storms after that, but I know faithfully is a questionable choice of words. We would, occasionally, but when we did we certainly thought of him.

Though now I'll admit I don't clear the drains that often, whenever I see debris building up on them, I think of him. And whenever I see a little pile of sticks, leaves, and acorn shells on top of a drain cover, I think of him and those days playing as a child in the puddles on Wildwood.

Now as an adult, I still wonder if clearing those drains has anything to do with his household plumbing, but for the sake of that old man, I'll believe it until I need to know otherwise.