I got my first taste of city government tonight, and to tell the truth was disappointed. Tonight’s meeting was about the ombudsman issue in Spokane. The police guild after 18 months of deliberation has Ok’ed Spokane their right to have an ombudsman. So tonight was the open forum for questions by the public.
But there had been language changes to the document and the council had not seen them yet. So the city attorney had to go through each change describe it and then answer council questions. It was also stated that if the meeting went too long people that did not get to comment could do so next week.
Finally at 8:15 the first citizen got to ask a question it was stated that each person had 3 minutes to state there comment. At 8:45 they were still on the first persons comment because the council asked questions and the city attorney had to explain the ramifications on each item brought up.
Needless to say I went completely unprepared. I had no dinner because I would have never thought I would be there until 9pm and beyond.
I don’t quite understand why the council did not see the revised language on the document before the meeting. And I also do not understand why they did not have stenographer there writing down the citizen comment for review at a later date. Asking questions to the point of whittling down every point was needless, at this stage in the game. Since it appears the council still has not completely reviewed and understand what the guild has Ok’d. Don’t get me wrong I am for everyone getting to comment that is why I went there but I think it could have been organized a little better.
Now I know why government runs so slow, by 9:15 I had enough and left to go home to cold bologna sandwich. Never made my comment, Oh well……….
