Upcoming Town Council Meeting

The next meeting of Town Council, Wednesday, Sept 9, 5 pm, at the CCC has only one agenda item marked Public Hearing: “Opening and amending the budget.”

They will also be adopting an undated code of conduct and rules of procedures for public officials and public meetings. This is the third and last of the legislative items on the agenda. One expects this wording to pass with little discussion. This is a better version than the last as it lacks the direction to not discuss items with the public when not at meetings.

The protocols maintain the position that the public cannot ask the town council questions during the meetings, but they can ask town staff questions. It also maintains inflexibility when it comes to responding to public comments by town council. They will not do it.

So be it.

When an item is marked public hearing, there is more latitude to ask questions and make comments. Their pattern is they only make things public hearing when the law requires them to. They could, if they desired, make almost every agenda item public hearing.

They have a great desire to have meetings which stress decorum and efficiency. They seem completely unnerved by the idea of dialogue with the public at meetings.

Even at the two cents event to discuss possibilities for the two acres by town hall, there was zero public dialogue between the citizens and Town Council. They have been unresponsive to requests for having Town Halls, a very common practice in many towns and cities to encourage engagement. Whatever it is they are afraid of, that fear is driving their decisions.

We can be grateful they are decent people who care about Springdale. It is unlikely they will do anything wildly contrary to its best interests, with or without public input and dialogue.

It is even more unlikely that the community dialogue with leadership which would increase transparency, trust, and a “we’re-in-this-together” sense of unity will happen under this Town Council.

Town Council meetings will be polite and practical and that’s not nothing. They could be communicative, informative, and community building.