West Richland workshops aim to boost feedback

Laura Kate Zaichkin, Herald staff writer

West Richland officials hope the days of hurrying residents through formal public comment at city council meetings are over.

"Monday nights (during council meetings), there's a lot of things going on," said Mayor Pro Tem Rich Buel. "We've got such a long agenda typically."

But when the city begins offering workshops devoted entirely to public comment on the second Monday of every month -- the first is set Jan. 12 -- Buel hopes citizens will "talk like they're running into (council members) at Yoke's or something, rather than in a formal setting."

The town hall-style meetings will allow city residents, council members and city employees to chat about issues informally.

"We want to put people in a comfortable environment that's less formal than a city council meeting," said Mayor Dale Jackson. "I do expect it's going to be more of an exchange than we normally do."

The council still will hear public comment at its twice-a-month business meetings, but Jackson hopes residents will limit those comments to urgent matters and let the council know ahead of time what they want to talk to the council about.

And any other issues can be brought up and fully addressed at the workshops.

"This is not going to be a formal shirt and tie (meeting)," Buel said. "It's just going to be us sitting around. We're hoping to get some folks who maybe don't come to the council meetings a lot."

Sometimes people feel uncomfortable or nervous speaking at the regular meetings, council members say. And usually the council has only a few moments to hear comment, take notes and move on.

This effort to devote entire meetings to public concerns will "do a better job of getting the government closer to the people," Jackson said.

"It's probably a little different format than anyone in the Tri-Cities is doing," he said.

Jackson said the meetings will "be a work in progress" and try different seating configurations and agenda formats.

Councilman Ken Dobbin said he hopes the workshops will eventually turn into single-topic meetings to address economic development, the budget and other city issues. He said this would be helpful to council members since they hear comments from individual constituents but often don't get a range of opinions.

"We're getting eight different pictures of what our citizens want us to be doing," Dobbin said. "If we're getting eight different pictures, we're not getting sufficient guidance. How do we get a proper representation of all 12,000 citizens?"

Dobbin also thinks the city will have to prove the workshops are effective. He's gotten feedback that citizens feel the sessions could be a waste of time if action doesn't result.

Jackson started citizen roundtable discussions three years ago that prompted changes that grew out of the discussions, such as streamlining the city permitting processes, he said.

All three council members say citizens have to participate for the meetings to increase communication between city officials and residents.

"We're more than willing to hear complaints," Jackson said. "But we also want to hear what people like -- if anything."

tool name

Tuesday, Jan. 06, 2009

West Richland workshops aim to boost feedback

Laura Kate Zaichkin, Herald staff writer