Newspaper Headline: “City will offer free childcare during City Council meetings starting in September.” Does that get your attention? It would be a shocker if that headline was about Mount Vernon, but it isn’t. The Ohio city is Cuyahoga Falls. City leaders there say “By offering this new service, we are able to increase accessibility to our public meetings for anyone who wishes to attend and participate in the process….” This demonstrates how City Councils around Ohio should feel about the importance of providing their citizens the ability to participate and have a voice in their city government.

I am not advocating for free child care. My point is that most Ohio City Councils want to hear from the people they represent and welcome their comments. I stopped documenting the number of municipalities at 75, large and small that constantly offer a place on their Agendas for ‘Citizen’s Comment.’ If you try to talk at a Mount Vernon City Council meeting you will find no provision to talk about matters that appear on the Agenda for that night. When is it more appropriate to speak on a matter in front of the Council than the night when the matter appears on the Agenda?

Mount Vernon will have four new city council members starting January 2020. I hope they and the other members agree with this writer that “our voice matters.” The Council members vote every year in January to adopt “the rules of procedures.” Residents elect all of those Council Members including the Council President; they work for us and they are paid by us. We can only hope that they are interested in hearing from us. Our voices matter. Currently, if you do get to speak at a meeting you will find that you have only a three-minute window and that time often starts when you are recognized to come to the podium, not when your first words are heard. Try saying anything of substance in three-minutes, it’s difficult. While a small number of the 75 other municipalities that I have documented use the three-minute rule, most have a five-minute limit and many have no limit at all.

I encourage residents to start their own personal campaign to insist that our city leaders change the current, uninviting public comment policy. Check the city website and email or call city leaders and demand a voice in our city government.

June 10, 2019 7:30pm City Council Committee Meeting Video

After Bruce Malek was motioned up to the podium at a City Council Committee Meeting by City Engineer Brian Ball, council member Chris Menapace abruptly ends his committee meeting preventing this citizen and Storm Water Committee member from talking. When Malek continues to ask for permission, Menapace says, “NO DUDE… WE ARE DONE.”