July 10, 2007
Auburn City Council meeting television viewers may be seeing a rerun.
Councilor David Dempsey plans to revisit an issue the council talked about nearly six months ago, and previous councils before that — whether to televise the weekly meeting.
He plans to bring it up on Thursday, to have councilors again vote on allowing cameras to capture the work session, rather than just the two regular business meetings.
In March, city manager Mark Palesh suggested the council split the monthly schedule into two regular business meetings and two untelevised informal work sessions, which are conducted in the third-floor meeting room.
“I think it’s a good process and they (councilors) don’t feel they have to act or hold back, even in their body language. They can ask questions they maybe won’t have otherwise,” Palesh said.
The casual discussions across a couple of tables pushed together allows the men to review issues in depth.
People are also reading…
“I don’t really have any other venues to get their feelings,” Palesh said.
He added the meetings are open to both the media and residents. Dempsey acknowledges the public is allowed to attend the work sessions but says some senior citizens can’t make it to the third-floor room.
Dempsey is hitting the streets talking to people during his campaign for mayor, and has been “overwhelmed” by the amount of comments related to residents watching televised council meetings.
“Many people look forward to it,” Dempsey said. “It’s important the people see what councilors are doing and what’s being discussed and what the issues are.”
Mayor Timothy Lattimore favors recording the meetings so the public can see the sessions’ presentations and shared information, from aging equipment in the Auburn Fire Department to road construction updates and possible health insurance cost-cutting proposals.
Viewers can watch meetings and see where people stand on issues, Dempsey said.
“The best government is an open government,” Dempsey said. “For too long, there’s been too many backroom discussions.”
— Compiled by David Wilcox
