Hello Judi and Starla,
I'm not sure who to write about this topic. I will cc Council so they are kept informed.
In short, I think it would be helpful to establish definitions for Council and Commission meeting agenda terms. I'm linking to an
example from a Council meeting in the City of Oakland.
[http://oakland.granicus.com/DocumentViewer.php?file=7f69bbdc9ee2f0cdb6fe41e99812ae7e.pdf&view=1]I've noticed that sometimes
Council will have Informational agenda items that include requests for action by Council. Sometimes their Consent Calendar items
also include topics that would likely have led to more discussion if residents better understood what the approval of the item
would later lead to. In the MP commissions, I've also seen agenda items under "Regular Business" that were informational only
items where the Commission wasn't being asked to decide anything.I think establishing, and then using, consistent terms would be
helpful.
For the Commissions, I've also long advocated that the Commission/Committee agendas mostly focus around meaningful topics -- not
routine business or informational only.
Lynne
