11 of the 22 meetings this week that the county has listed (there are more that are not listed electronically) are held during the day. Not before work or during lunch, but 9 am, 1 pm. How are the public and the elected officials with day jobs expected to be able to participate? At the county level, this is particularly problematic as by the time something gets to the county board, its decided. All the action happens in committees and their meetings are over in 45 minutes and even that is mostly just announcements.
So, I asked the county board . . .
Last week I asked the city council what they would do to make the agendas available to the public more than just a few days in advance. This week, I’m asking you to email me by Thursday morning at 7am about what you will do to help make county government more accessible to the public. School board . . . next week . . . .
This week there are 22 meetings listed in legistar, 11 of them are held during the day. Surprisingly, the times aren’t even when people could attend during lunch or before work. The county has meetings that while technically open to the public, are not really meetings most people can attend. Meetings are scheduled at 2:30, 3:45, 8:30, 1:00, 9:00, 3:00, etc. How are members of the public and candidates/elected officials who have day jobs expected to be able to run for/meaningfully participate in local government? I can only imagine that this is further complicated for those who do not live in the City of Madison and have to travel further to get to these meetings.
I also have a question about where meetings that are not in legistar agendas are posted and where the meeting minutes are kept. Meetings I can think of are Dane County Housing Authority, Transportation Planning Board, MPO, CARPC, Madison Development Corp, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District and others.
I’ve read 1000s of agendas over the years and quite often, at the county level, I read agenda items and have no clue what they are. You, as a group, tend to use ALOT of acronyms and alphabet soup that make it impossible for members of the public to decipher what you might be talking about. I still struggle with some items and honestly don’t know what they are.
Finally, your use of Legistar needs improvement. Many agendas that make it into legistar have zero attachments. Agenda items refer to policies or documents that are not available to the public.
These are the biggest issues I see, but feel free to comment on why more county meetings aren’t video taped or any other issues you see that will make county government more accessible to the public.
With all the groups popping up wanting to find local solutions to address things Trump is anticipated to do, I’ve faced more than my usual number of questions about local government and how it works, and I often find the county processes difficult to explain. If people want to act locally, they will have to be able to understand how to do it.
So, I ask, what will you to do make county government easier for the public? What solutions are you willing to champion.
Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you.
Brenda
I think I’ll have a worse rate of participation from them than the city council. So I’m going to need your help to nudge them. Please email your elected officials and ask them what they will do to make county government more transparent and easier to participate in? Here’s their email . . . county_board_recipients@co.dane.wi.us Let me know if you get an answer . . .
