Port Angeles City Council Retreat
The City Council held a 7-hour retreat yesterday at Peninsula College. They talked about the economy and access to public records, among other things.
They concluded that they need to work more closely with other cities and the Clallam County government. City Manager Kent Myers said: “We're going to depend on a real close working relationship with the county, the downtown business association, working with other cities, and just have to be better partners because of the need for dollars.”
I’m not sure who “the downtown business association” is, since we have the Port Angeles Downtown Association and the Port Angeles Business Association.
Concerning transparency and public access, Myers said the city could post more documents on its website. Cherie Kidd suggested improving their outreach by setting up booths at community events: “We need to be out there and accessible, to increase the feeling that we're accessible, so we can listen.”
Betsy Wharton suggested using city hall’s empty wall space to display visuals of some of the city’s long-range ideas, like a south-side expressway.
Some of the council’s recommendations will be discussed at the next City Council meeting this Tuesday, 6 p.m.
They concluded that they need to work more closely with other cities and the Clallam County government. City Manager Kent Myers said: “We're going to depend on a real close working relationship with the county, the downtown business association, working with other cities, and just have to be better partners because of the need for dollars.”
I’m not sure who “the downtown business association” is, since we have the Port Angeles Downtown Association and the Port Angeles Business Association.
Concerning transparency and public access, Myers said the city could post more documents on its website. Cherie Kidd suggested improving their outreach by setting up booths at community events: “We need to be out there and accessible, to increase the feeling that we're accessible, so we can listen.”
Betsy Wharton suggested using city hall’s empty wall space to display visuals of some of the city’s long-range ideas, like a south-side expressway.
Some of the council’s recommendations will be discussed at the next City Council meeting this Tuesday, 6 p.m.
posted by Tom Harper at 6:50 PM
2 Comments:
I certainly hope that retreat was not paid for with taxpayer money or we'll never hear the end of it!
Well, either:
a) They're finally listening to us, learned their lesson, and will be a stronger city government for it.
or
b) They're telling us exactly what we want to hear so we'll go away and leave them in peace same as the years and years before this.
All the various city factions definitely need to have stronger ties, so there's less infighting and more work getting done. And the city website definitely needs an overhaul, complete with Web 2.0 tools. I'm not so sure about the outreach tents. There's too much chance that could disintegrate into the same inbred cheerleading we've come to know and not love so much. But if done well, it might help get the people of the community actually excited to live here. Or at least mitigate some of the crushing despair.
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