To bring you this post I endured a weaponized tedium that seemed intentional. After all, the topic I was waiting to make a public comment on was, ironically, a motion to move public comments from the back of the line on Monday nights to the front. One of the reasons given by the sponsors of this motion was to alleviate unnecessary wait time for what I contend is a senior citizen sweet-spot that doesn’t exist.
How else should a close observer of this sausage making interpret the pretzel rationale given by Council member, Bob Campbell, about why a 20 minute capped comment period would be an appropriate solution to the problem created by these policy shape-shifters in the first place?
Reports from the public will last 20 minutes, with three minutes per speaker. The rule change allows one comment per person per meeting, regardless of whether it’s early in the meeting or later. Once the 20-minute window closes, the city will move on to official business.
Comment will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
“We don’t want staff waiting all night for an unknown amount of public participation,” said co-sponsor Bob Campbell. “But this appears to be a reasonable combination to allow public comment from the get-go. The time period proposed is not an unreasonable ask of staff, of the media, or anybody else here to conduct regular business.”
To make sure these comedians know that I know what this is all about, I waited for an hour to then wait another awkward 45 seconds because, despite telling me I could unmute my online mic, I couldn’t, and had to lower my virtual hand and raise it again.
Did I mention the previous presentation was from our city’s IT? Dear God, it was awful. One commenter even said he saw someone leave while waiting. Irony everywhere!
Before I get to my comment I’ll explain what the original move was all about. Missoula’s political establishment remembers how uncomfortable it was during the waning months of 2019 to have angry public comments, week after week, from citizens who didn’t think a Wisconsin transplant oligarch wannabe needed $16 million dollars in TIF money. I even made a documentary about this time period!
My comment was quick and agitated because I had to wait so long, but can be summarized like this: fig leaf or no fig leaf, the emperor is still naked AF, so my preference would be for the hypocrites around the horseshoe to keep this example of their hypocrisy in place.
But, because there’s an election coming up next month, they chose to attach the fig leaf. How predictable.
Thanks for reading!
Just a point of clarification – my proposal is to *add* an additional 20 minute period at the beginning of the meeting, not *replace* the current no cap commemt period at the end. So we’ll still have an unlimited of time at the end for comments, but I want to hear from folks at the beginning of the meeting as well.
I always appreciate your blog and your comments Travis!
Thank you for the clarification.