THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 12, 1994 TAG: 9410120477
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANCIE LATOUR, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Stung by criticism of its decision to limit speakers at meetings, the City Council voted to consider adding a roving monthly work session to hear residents' concerns.
Councilman John M. de Triquet led the body in a unanimous vote on the proposed rule, which would set up an informal meeting every first Tuesday of the month that would travel to neighborhoods.
``This is not in response to, but in fulfillment of, the intentions that the present and all past councils have had in . . . increasing citizen participation,'' said de Triquet.
He spoke for 10 minutes about cynicism between citizens and their leaders before announcing the plan.
``With this,'' said Vice Mayor Arthur L. Dwyer, ``we will be going to the citizens instead of the citizens coming to us.''
Under the proposal, the council would announce the location of each meeting ahead of time and advertise it in the newspaper. The sessions would be run by the mayor, the vice mayor or a ``designee.''
No city staff would be present when citizens addressed their council members. Minutes would be kept for public record, but no television cameras would record the events.
About 15 residents, wearing tags showing a pair of lips surrounded by a circle with a black line running across them, came to challenge council in its first week of the new speaking procedures.
In spite of a pointed reminder by Mayor William E. Ward to address only agenda items, the speakers weaved more than 20 references to the controversy into a series of items up for the council's consideration.
Later, many said the roving session wasn't a solution.
``If it's trying to solve the problem of what they already put in place, it's not working,'' said Beverly T. Pillers, a Hickory resident. ``Because it still is not citywide; there's no way to inform the people on a city basis as to what is going on.''
Grindly Johnson, a resident of Crestwood, said that she saw the move as an attempt by council members to back down from their first decision, but that it failed to address her major concern - the presence of city staff.
``It doesn't sound like a solution to me,'' Johnson said. ``The purpose of council meetings is for the council to consult with the staff on hand to try to get things done. The (council) can come, and you can talk and talk all you want, but the staff are the people who have the answers to the questions.''
Aside from the potential hassle of tracking down council members from location to location, Hickory resident Robert Pillers, Beverly's husband, questioned the effectiveness of the floating sessions.
``If they're not in your neighborhood that week,'' he asked, ``will you have to wait until they get around to your neighborhood? That could take weeks. And if you go to a session in a neighborhood you don't live in, are they going to want to listen to what you have to say?
``I just don't find it very consistent or thought out,'' Pillers said, comparing it to a ward system.
Others made the same observation, noting that council members had expressed fears that a divided and polarized city run by wards might result from the new sessions.
``The danger is that there is a separation of districts, and that could polarize the city,'' said Betsy Patterson, who lives in Hickory. ``Especially if they favor certain neighborhoods. They can't go everywhere.''
The traveling session seemed ridiculous to Beverly Pillers.
``They're already here,'' she said. ``They aren't willing to stay here another half hour and listen to us, but they will take a whole night to meet every night? I just don't understand.'' by CNB