Through Monday night’s heated discussion of the extension of Maguire Boulevard, another issue emerged – namely, the disadvantage residents might have when it comes to speaking out about developments in their community.
Marion Mace Dickerson, who spoke in opposition of the road extension, brought up the point. “I’m feeling a little like Dave and Goliath,” she said. “I really hope the council can address the issue of why is it that the development community is always knowledgeable, is on top of everything, and the rest of us are rushing….”
The city takes measures to notify the public of the council’s agenda. An item on the council’s agenda starts out under New Business. Items in this category are read aloud at a council meeting.
They are then moved to Old Business and discussed and voted on at the next council meeting. Items that go through this process by law don’t require advertised public hearings, but the council typically opens hearings on them anyway.
The Friday before each council meeting, City Manager Bill Watkins holds a 9:30 a.m. news conference that is broadcast on Columbia’s government access channel. He goes through the council’s agenda piece by piece.
Media outlets, including the Missourian, often use this as an opportunity to preview the issues that will be discussed. The council’s agenda appears in its entirety on the city Web site and in the Columbia Daily Tribune.
“I don’t really know what we can do to provide additional notice,” Watkins said
What do you think? Are developers at an advantage when it comes to public meetings? Should the media, the city council, boards and commissions do something more to notify people about what they plan to discuss? If so, what should they do?
Filed under: City Council, City Government, Neighborhoods, Public Hearings, Reporter's Notebook | Tagged: Bill Watkins, Catherine McComb, Columbia Daily Tribune, Darwin Hindman, Maguire Boulevard
Read the agenda and familiarize yourself with issues of concern. I use watchthatpage.com to monitor the city’s agenda page and several other sites of interest. When I receive an email that such a page has been updated (take for example the council’s agenda), I’m able to pull up the agenda and read the linked PDF files for any agenda item I find of interest.