Some Marina Study Session pre-meeting information

Categories Marina, Transparency

Next Thursday, January 26th, there will be a Council Study Session concerning ‘Marina Redevelopment’ at 6PM at City Hall 21630 S. 11th Ave. If you are considering attending or writing the City Council about these issues, I have two suggestions. But to get there, you need the following background information.

Background

A ‘study session’ is simply a meeting of the City Council which is dedicated to a single issue and in this case it will concern the Marina.

Apparently, the format will be:

  1. Public Comment from people who SIGN UP AT THE DOOR BEFORE THE MEETING
  2. Presentation by Staff (usually 1hr)
  3. Discussion by Council (usually 1hr)
  • But… a study session is NOT a ‘community meeting’. As with any CCM, there is public comment at the beginning where anyone can show up and speak for three minutes, but generally speaking, there is no dialogue, and neither the Council, or the City Manager take questions from the audience.
  • No votes will be taken at this meeting. However, the Mayor stated that there may be some kind of action taken at the next meeting (February 2nd.) I certainly hope not. It would seem like a waste of time of a good ‘study session’ if the Council too any action literally the next week.
  • The City Clerk publishes the agenda for meetings on the Friday before the meeting. In this case, January 20th. The reason I’m telling you this before that agenda is published is to make a suggestion, which I’ll get to in a second.
  • It has been this City Manager’s policy to not provide the presentation materials ahead of time. If this meeting goes as every other meeting during my tenure, we (and I mean both the public and the City Council) will not see the materials being discussed until the meeting.
  • Both the City (and I) would encourage you to write citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov with your questions–the hope being that if you do so, your specific questions will be answered at that meeting.

Here are my two suggestions

  1. Please write the City Council  before the agenda is published on Friday, January 20th–which means tomorrow.
  2. In addition to your questions, you should also insist that the City also provide their presentation materials before the meeting. That way, you will know what they intend to talk about, and can then put together better questions.

These may seem like small details, but they’re not. I know that many of you felt ‘surprised’ by the September 27 Community Meeting (I sure was 😀 ) and having these materials up front is a step towards improving communication on this most important set of projects.

I also want to assure you that providing materials in advance should present no special hardship for our staff. This is actually standard practice for most local governments, including the Port of Seattle.

Finally, please SHOW UP at 6PM ON January 26, whether you intend to provide public comment or not. Said it before, say it again. 10 people at City Hall is far more useful than 300 Likes on Facebook.

I’ve written a good deal about the Marina and you can read all of it here. And as always, if you have any questions, write or call me jcharris@desmoineswa.gov (206) 878-0578.

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