Jersey Mike

Yesterday, I wrote about Harrisburg City Council’s latest Resolution – 31-2010 – which is basically a hodgepodge of new rules for city council meetings. It’s a housekeeping measure that happens every so often to keep things current.

What I reported and reacted to was this brief paragraph that was posted on PennLive -

Harrisburg City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to eliminate the public comment at the end of its meetings and allow people only to speak on city business at the beginning. Comments would be limited to three minutes and must be focused on agenda items before council that evening.

The way that reads (and the way that the Patriot reported it) sounds like comments at Council Meetings are limited to ONLY business listed on the agenda. “Comments would be limited to three minutes and must be focused on agenda items before council that evening.”

But after speaking with councilman Brad Koplinski before last night’s Rendall pep-talk, I gained some clarity on what is ACTUALLY happening with the new rules in Council Chambers.

The way the Resolution is worded does allow constituents to speak before council on ANY topic they wish, not just topics on the agenda. And had the Patriot News reporter done his job and reported accurately, there probably wouldn’t have been as much blowback on this- here it is, word for word:

COURTESY OF THE FLOOR
RULE NO. 9 Courtesy of the Floor is the order of business during which residents or taxpayers of the city of Harrisburg may address Council on any matter of concern, official action or deliberation which is or may be before City Council, prior to taking action. A sign-in sheet shall be prominently displayed, and all persons wishing to address Council must print their name, address and telephone number or e-mail address. The President shall set guidelines for such courtesy and has the option of establishing time limits consistent with the number of people who will address the members.

So there it is. It’s not, as the Patriot reported, that council has voted to “limit” public comment….it has voted to merely move public comment from the end of the meeting to the beginning of the meeting.

Furthermore, what citizens and taxpayers may speak about is not limited to agenda items, as clearly dictated in the following sentence from the new Resolution: “Courtesy of the Floor is the order of business during which residents or taxpayers of the city of Harrisburg may address Council on any matter of concern, official action or deliberation which is or may be before City Council, prior to taking action”

So there you have it. We CAN still speak before council on ANY topic that we see fit – but it has to be done at the BEGINNING of the meeting.

Which, in my opinion, is better anyway because now we don’t need to sit through the entire meetings to speak to council about bankruptcy or the Amusement Tax or potholes or prostitutes or dog fighting or whatever other ailments we feel the council needs to hear about.

So, thanks Brad “Cufflinks” Koplinski for clearing that up.

From the June 8 PennLive:

Harrisburg City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to eliminate the public comment at the end of its meetings and allow people only to speak on city business at the beginning. Comments would be limited to three minutes and must be focused on agenda items before council that evening.

Does Harrisburg City Council not want to hear from it’s constituency about issues not related to matters on the agenda? Apparently so. This move makes the statement that We do not care to hear what you simpletons have to say and we’re going to ignore you publicly.

Sure, citizens are able to speak – for no more than three minutes- at the BEGINNING of each council session only on items that are on the agenda for that particular meeting.

But here’s the rub: oftentimes, the City Council Website isn’t updated in a timely fashion and the documents regarding the agenda of the meeting aren’t provided until AFTER the meeting.

So, essentially, Harrisburg City Council has told the citizens of Harrisburg that it doesn’t particularly care to hear their thoughts. And they have taken the time to create an ordinance against it.

Furthermore, because this new “rule” is already in place and will not likely be on the agenda again, citizens may NOT address council in the public comment portion of the meetings about this.

Now, I completely understand that there are a motley crew of characters that regularly attend meetings and bludgeon our council with drivel and redundant nonsense following each meeting and often need to be reminded of the three minute time limit- but for every one lunatic that addresses council, there are dozens more with valid, pertinent and meaningful comments to add to the dialogue about what’s hurting (or helping) this ailing city.

But isn’t the public comment portion of a city council meeting considered “due process”? Do we not have the RIGHT to publicly address our ELECTED officials?

City Council must remember that they sought office so that they may SERVE their citizenry. Seems more and more these days that our elected officials forget what the root of their position is: to SERVE the community. And how are they going to SERVE the community without knowing what’s on their community’s collective minds?

If I were sitting on that council, you bet your bottom dollar that you would have heard a pretty loud “NAY” from me on this one…