Let's start at the top of this and work our way through this one together. Stick with us, this is going to be a long one.
We need a transparent, inclusive government. This statement is insinuating that the current governing body is not transparent, or inclusive. This statement is wrong, however, let's go on their ideology for a minute. This means that they are stating that all of the current Council members are not transparent or inclusive then, correct? So they are then stating that the 2 council members who ran this same exact platform prior to them, are also non transparent and non inclusive, yes? Did we catch you at an awkward time? We know that's a lot to process, but we must keep mucking through the crap and get to the root of the issue now. Transparency and Inclusiveness, here we come.
Transparency promotes accountability and provides information for citizens about what their Government is doing. So, the City website listing when and where the City Council meetings will be held and the full agenda is not transparency? If you want to look back at prior meetings, you can do that as well.
But wait, what if there's a letter Council received and I want to know what it says. We should be able to see everything council does. You're right! Oh, by the way, you can. On the city website there's a right to know form, you fill that out and you can request whatever you are seeking. Simple, right?
Let's focus now on inclusiveness, which means giving an open door to all and treating all equally. This is fantastic, why are we not already doing this? Wait, they are! We'll go ahead and include the public comment policy from the Meadville City website for your viewing.
If you ask us, this seems pretty darn inclusive. Let us quote it for you, just in case you missed this part: "Council shall provide opportunity at each advertised regular meeting and advertised work session or other special meetings for RESIDENTS and TAXPAYERS of the City of Meadville to comment on matters of concern, official action, or deliberation which are on the agenda before Council at the meeting."
Furthermore, if you have a specific matter or have a topic to be considered as a future agenda item, you simply contact the City Manager. In case you're unaware, the City Manager is appointed by Council and reports to them.
I guess we just disproved the lack of inclusiveness in our current Council. Since the meetings are all open to the public and any resident or taxpayer of the City can sign up to make public comment at the meeting, it seems to us that they've made it pretty easy to be involved in the decision making process. That is, if you choose to show up to the meeting.
If for some reason you are thinking that Council can meet without our knowledge or that you can't contribute your own thoughts to Council, or some other silly thing like that. Well, hello Sunshine! As in, Sunshine Act. Do you know what that is? No? Let us enlighten you, it's our pleasure.
Kind of disproves both transparency and inclusiveness, right? There is specifically, a law protecting us. This exists because Council, and the Mayor are elected by the citizens of the City. We participate in a representative democracy, meaning exactly what we just stated, we elect them to represent the whole of us. That brings us to the final points of town hall meetings and participatory budgeting.
There doesn't seem to be specific "rules" to town hall meetings, and they seem like a larger scale version of a Council meeting. We are not arguing that there wouldn't be value in holding town hall meetings, but it seems that maybe Larry and Autumn and these candidates are already hosting town hall meetings under the false narrative that it's a block party. Think we're wrong?
Remember these series of block parties to discuss housing, local government and what we'd like to see in our neighborhoods?
In a live video captured at the common roots block party, you can see they are asking residents who attended to vote on matters of budget. Now, there wasn't a quorum present, therefore they didn't violate the Sunshine Act. However, if these candidates do get on Council, they should probably make themselves aware of the Sunshine Act to ensure they don't violate this with future block parties, or town halls, whatever they're calling it.
Now, the participatory budgeting, per the My Meadville project is as follows:
Implement Participatory Budgeting (PB) As a way of meaningfully involving people in the local economy, community members would like to see a percentage of the City's budget set aside for projects determined directly by the consensus of Meadville residents. "Designed to re-engage citizens in the governance of their town, community, or region, (participatory budgeting) uses a community-focused process to gather input from residents about budget decisions, develop a set of priorities, vote on them, and then fund them...Typically, the municipality allocates a small part of their total budget to projects selected through PB, ranging from less than 1% to 20%."
We don't think this is a bad thing, but we think voters should be aware of how little of the budget you will actually be able to vote on. They also want to limit it to citizens, meaning those who reside within the City. We think if they're really wanting to be inclusive, as their platform suggests, that this should be for all who reside or pay taxes within the City. There are many business owners who may own and pay taxes on their building within the City, but they do not reside within it. This does not mean that they should be unable to contribute, they have just as much invested in this community being successful and welcoming to all, as the residents who live here.
The final point is this; The City of Meadville is incorporated as a Third Class City with an Optional Charter/Council-Manager form of government. But what the heck does that even mean? We're so glad you asked!
(Link:https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/LI/uconsCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&yr=1957&sessInd=0&smthLwInd=0&act=399&chpt=5)
To summarize the key points, or to tell you what's at the link that you probably didn't care to follow;
COUNCIL-MANAGER PLAN
A. Form of Government; Election of
Councilmen and Controller
Section 501. The form of government provided in this article shall be known as the "council-manager plan" and shall, together with articles III. and VI., govern any city, the voters of which have adopted this plan pursuant to this act.
Section 502. Each city under this article shall be governed by a mayor chosen as provided in sections 213 and 507, an elected council, an elected controller, an appointed city manager, an elected treasurer and by such other officers and employees as may be duly appointed pursuant to this article, general law or ordinance.
Section 509. All powers of the city and the determination of all matters of policy shall be vested in the city council, except as otherwise provided by this act or by general law.
The bare bones of it is, we elect the officials and give them all powers of determination for the City. Meaning again, we are in a representative democracy by our own choosing. We can encourage and participate in town halls, so long as we follow the Sunshine Act.
If you're going to go so far as to throw ideas out, you should probably ensure that you know all about the laws surrounding these ideas. There are protections for all residents and taxpayers of the City. You cannot reserve or limit the seating for a select few, there are others who deserve and want to be there too. Maybe these candidates should reevaluate the definition of inclusion, because they're clearly missing the mark. You can see where they're choosing to spend their time in the City, it's not in the business district or the "wealthy" neighborhoods. Oh, we forgot, their all about inclusion.... except for when it comes to the "local elites or wealthy few".
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