So, prior to the second attempt the Economic Development Commission made to have a public hearing on paid sick leave, another controversy of sorts threatened to flare up, got resolved, then became an in issue again. What is it with EDC and “public process”? Do the chair and alder realize that this is a government committee, subject to open meetings laws and other laws to ensure that the sun shines on government activity, and not a private enterprise?
At first, a representative from Healthy Families, Healthy Cities was told that people had to register on time and late registrants would not be able to speak? What? That didn’t sound right cuz that is not the EDC’s standard practice and I couldn’t imagine them turning businesses away because they registered late. So the representative from Healthy Families, Healthy Cities talked to another staff person and confirmed, late registrations would be accepted.
So, fast forward to the hearing. Apparently, they only had the room reserved until 9:00, so as people were registering, they were told that they might not be able to speak if it got too late. I talked to at least two people who, after being given the impression they wouldn’t get to speak, left. I know when I showed up, very late, around 8:15 I was told there wouldn’t be time for me to speak, so I registered and wrote on my sheet that I wanted to speak but there was no time. I was told that testimony would end at 8:45, so I stayed to watch the last half hour of testimony.
Imagine my surprise when I turned around and saw it was 9:05 and Mark Bugher, the chair of the commission was announcing that they could use the room longer than what they were originally told. At that point and for the last 15 minutes as he read through many registration slips, most people had gone home, perhaps because they were told that if they didn’t get to speak by 8:45 they wouldn’t get to speak. Also, because he said the room would be available longer, I went up and had to tell them that there were more speakers who wanted to speak. Four of us who were there and registered were able to speak, but I don’t know why the chair didn’t originally have our registration slips.
I’m not sure what was going on, I know that there were staffing issues as Katherine Naherny has retired and Michael Gay is out on medical leave, but shouldn’t the alder and chair know better by now? It seems they have one controversy after another when it comes to public process and understanding that they are a government committee that has to follow rules.
- First, they keep their EDC report secret until they can hold a press conference, leaving questions about how or if the committee ever voted on the thing.
- They don’t understand the issue of negative quorum and quorum by email while discussing TIF and potentially held illegal meetings.
- They allow members of the committee to be present by phone for quorum purposes, tho I have never seen another city committee do that.
- They don’t seem to think that open meetings laws apply to them and try to take informal testimony from the public during their first attempt at a public hearing on paid sick leave.
- And now, most recently they mislead the public regarding their ability to speak to the commission.
Geesh, get it together boys . . . at least give us the appearance that you understand you are a public body and care what the public thinks.
