Monday, June 15, 2009

Council online -- yea or nay?

Council online -- yea or nay? ... times a year, including its many special meetings and public hearings, and some of its more contentious sessions go on for hours. Wednesday's committee meeting, for instance, saw members lash a proposed fiscal recovery plan, and the vacationing Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, for nearly three hours before opting to postpone a tentative vote.
Hardest working legislative body in the world, if you listen to Doug Shields.

I've been wishing for this for years -- but different, and cheaper.

The city council meetings could be put on TalkShoe.com and then we'd have a wonderful solution for 99% of the time. TalkShoe is audio and available via PC or phone. I'd like to call into a meeting and listen as to where it is. Imagine that.

And the audio of TalkShoe is archived.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't there be a RFP for this?

And then a debate

Then post adgenda

Then a public hearing?

Mark Rauterkus said...

I would love to see more debate before the RFP is let. Then the RFP can better frame what is really wanted. In sales, you qualify the buyer. The department might want XYZ --but the council and the citizens have other priorities.

So, a public hearing at the FRONT end is always better than what you have -- in the back end.

And, a debate can rage at the public hearing. But, it can't happen witin a RFP.