THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 14, 1996 TAG: 9610140036
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 139 lines
Citizens across South Hampton Roads are getting more chances this fall to comment on the wish lists that cities are preparing for the 1997 General Assembly.
Tuesday night, Chesapeake will hold its third public hearing on the city's proposals to the legislature. No other city in South Hampton Roads offers more chances for formal public comment.
Norfolk, the only city that never held a public hearing on its legislative goals, will do so this fall.
Virginia Beach, which has allowed public comment for more than a decade, may make the opportunity more inviting. Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf hopes to advertise the public hearing separately from the rest of the council agenda to raise its visibility.
Also, for the first time, citizens will get to comment on a regional legislative agenda - through a public hearing being planned by the Mayors and Chairs Caucus of Hampton Roads cities and counties.
Putting together lists for the General Assembly is a little-noticed part of local government, traditionally confined to behind-the-scenes staff work and semi-private meetings between city councils and legislators.
The cities' proposals range widely from laws covering personnel policies to the funding of schools and museums to the regulation of the growth of subdivisions.
But observers say efforts to involve the public in legislative agendas could become more important as city councils seek more grass-roots participation in solving community problems, especially in an era of federal and state funding cuts.
``The broader the understanding of the issues by the populace, the better off we all are,'' said Arthur L. Collins, head of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
For several years, most area cities have allowed some form of public comment on the annual proposals to the General Assembly.
The Suffolk council will discuss its legislative proposals Wednesday, with a public hearing possibly on Nov. 6.
Portsmouth will continue its practice of discussing its legislative goals in an open work session of the City Council, said Robert Creecy, director of management and legislative affairs. The public cannot comment until the package comes up as a regular agenda item at a formal meeting of the council. Those dates have not been scheduled.
Public hearings do not guarantee that councils will follow citizens' suggestions. Elected officials say they must balance many factors.
But advocates of greater public involvement say the hearings are a good first step.
``It may not yet be a broad participatory process, but at least it's providing more notice rather than the local government acting in isolation,'' said Randy Arndt, spokesman for the National League of Cities.
``The value is that your proposals carry a stronger imprimatur of the community,'' he said.
Another benefit is that ``you broaden the range of stakeholders in the issues. . . . That strengthens the community all around,'' Arndt said. ``It does not mean that everybody gets their way. But the information you get goes into a continuing dialogue.''
Mike Amyx, executive director of the Virginia Municipal League, applauded cities that give citizens opportunity to get involved in the legislative agendas. ``I think Hampton Roads may be out front on this,'' he said. ``It builds support for the legislative agendas and momentum.''
Amyx said he probably will ``encourage other cities around the state'' to follow suit.
``There are some very tough choices right around the corner for local governments'' because of the federal and state cutbacks, Amyx said. Public hearings, he said, ``will increase public awareness.''
But there's an irony here: Few citizens turn out. In Chesapeake, only one person - Carl Burns, a frequent council critic - spoke at the two public hearings already held. Few attend in the other cities.
Still, advocates of more public participation urge local governments not to give up on the citizens. ``You don't want to find an excuse to stop involving the public,'' Arndt said. ``You should say, `What can we do to make this work?' ''
Citizens, the proponents say, do not yet have enough clear or timely information about the legislative goals or their relevance.
But state legislation has direct bearing on many quality-of-life issues, such as educational policies and funding, said Barbara Ballard, president of the League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads.
``To have citizen input at this step would strengthen the citizens' power, not only as citizens themselves trying to get these improvements but in having the cities work for them,'' Ballard said.
Cities have full- or part-time legislative liaisons who monitor the General Assembly and often serve as lobbyists.
When the public is more involved, the legislative liaisons, in effect, also become direct lobbyists for the local citizens, Ballard said, ``and vice versa: The citizens could help their cities more.''
Ballard commends Chesapeake, particularly for holding an open-ended public hearing early in the process. On Aug. 20, the City Council asked citizens what they wanted in the wish list - before the city staff began drafting ideas.
Drafts of the city's proposals are now available in libraries, and the hearings are advertised on municipal cable TV, said Anna D'Antonio, Chesapeake's legislative liaison.
The Chesapeake Council of Civic Organizations also tries to inform citizens of the legislative proposals. The civic group sent copies to presidents of 41 neighborhood civic leagues and then convened a meeting Oct. 1 to discuss the issues with D'Antonio.
Civic-league involvement with municipal legislative agendas is more limited in other area cities.
In past years, Suffolk City Hall has circulated a draft of its proposals to the legislative committee of the Chamber of Commerce and to farm organizations, but not to civic leagues, said Cindy Rohlf, assistant to City Manager Myles E. Standish. ``But that's something we may want to consider,'' she said.
Last December, Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim sent the city's goals to 126 community groups after the City Council had reviewed the ideas. This fall, Norfolk will hold a public hearing and try to make an earlier mailing of the legislative packet to civic and business groups, he said.
Sometimes cities have their officials discuss the legislative goals on municipal, cable-television stations. Virginia Beach Mayor Oberndorf has invited state senators and delegates to her TV show to answer telephone calls from viewers.
This year, she'll have a TV show on which council members and city staff explain the goals and answer questions from a live audience.
Oberndorf did not know whether the broadcast will be before or after the City Council votes on the packet - a date not yet scheduled.
Area members of the General Assembly hold their own forums, and occasionally with some city councils.
Ballard said public hearings, communications with civic leagues and other forums are healthy trends - but there are risks. She warned that hearings are not reliable indicators of public sentiment. Often, the forums can frustrate officials and citizens alike, divide communities and be abused by well-organized special-interest groups. Citizens may get their hopes up but go away angry.
Ballard suggests that governments find more ways to listen to citizens and build consensus, such as holding many small group meetings and community workshops to foster ``more open community dialogue.''
She also urged officials to announce hearings and workshops early enough to give citizens time to prepare their thoughts. ``They need to be more user-friendly,'' Ballard said. ``That's the one place for cities to work a little harder on with this.'' MEMO: Chesapeake's wish list; managing a city's growth/B2 ILLUSTRATION: A greater role for citizens
Cities once compiled their legislative wishlists behind the scenes.
Now citizens are having a say - and that, proponents, say is good.
If, of course, people participate. by CNB