Council meeting agendas are released the Thursday before each council meeting. This document not only contains the agenda, but also contains relevant information pertaining to each agenda item. The public is not open to voice their questions and concerns during the council meeting. We therefore believe that the next best way to keep Council accountable and performing based on the direction of their constituents is to provide our questions and concerns to our Council members in advance of the meeting, and reiterating our expectation that these will be addressed when these topics are discussed in the meeting.
The entire agenda document can be hundreds of pages long. Pre-council meeting review entails reviewing some or all of the agenda items and supplemental information by the Sunday evening following the publishing of the agenda. Considering yourself as the one that must accept any information or make any decision, what additional information would you require to help make your decision, or further your understanding?
We must ensure our Council understands our expectations, which is to ask the same questions and raise the same concerns that we would if it were us up there. To accomplish this, we will share the questions and concerns that our reviewers established with the rest of the community by Sunday night, and encourage all community members to call or email their Councilor on the Monday to advise them that you expect those questions / concerns to be brought up in the meeting.