Anatomy (102) The Nuts & Bolts of a Town Meeting

Anatomy 102

Let's take a look at the basic structure of a Town Meeting in Wrightsville Beach (aka the Nuts & Bolts)

The whole purpose of a Town Meeting is the timely public conduct of the local government law making and strategic decisions for the municipality. PUBLIC... as in "out in full view" of the citizens not behind the scenes, in the hallways, or at the coffee shop. (in a future posting we will show you how to access all this public town info)

 The TOWB Board of Alderman (aka Town Meeting) is scheduled once per month, held on the 2nd Thursday of the month at 6:00 pm in Town Hall Chambers.  There is the the option, to call interim meetings as situations (urgent decisions) may dictate.  There are currently 32 meetings listed on the Official Public Notice for 2012 of which 12 are the regular monthly Jan - Dec 2012).

YIKES!
Doing Homework for a Town Meeting

That's a pretty busy schedule for Alderman, plus we need to factor in preparation time and external engagement and participation with Citizens, Town Staff and  other community, county  and state panels, boards committees..etc.

Like any meeting it starts with the objective(s).What needs to be addressed by the elected officials? What is the desired result? The needs could range from providing direction to Town staff,  hearing public comment on key issues, budget matters, decisions to renew contracts, hiring, approving zoning, preparing for hurricanes, discussing reports from staff or even dealing with NCDOT repair of the draw bridge...and the traffic on a big weekend.  Over the course of the Town's fiscal year the annual Budget will take on a large focus (Jan to June) and extra meetings will be held to focus on just that (aka Budget Workshops). The agenda for each meeting will be setup based on the objectives set.

Generally the regular monthly meetings have a fairly standard format with varying intensity and time allocated on particular  items as needed.

A Standard Agenda (as partially seen here) will have 8 categories.

• Cat 1 through 3 are... Call to Order, Pledge of Allegiance, Invocation (non-denominational prayer)
• Cat 4... Public Comment (could be you or I notifying in advance the Town Clerk, Silvia Holleman (910-256-7900 or sholleman@towb.org) that you want to speak at the meeting about issue X, Y and/or Z) The Mayor will make an introduction in the meeting and allow 3 - 5 minutes for each scheduled speaker to talk about their issue(s). Often this time is used by citizens to request that something be addressed or looked into or even propose a Public Hearing (ref. Cat 6). However there is no obligation of the Board to take any actions, including asking any clarifying questions of the speaker.
• Cat 5 ... Consent Agenda (this can be a long list of fairly standard type operational issues that are voted for approval as an entire group...such as approval of the minutes from past meetings, acknowledgement of previously approved events, approval of certain newly proposed events, approval to proceed with specific administrative actions (adoption of state mandated record retention or writing off bad checks), officially canceling or rescheduling  future meetings of various town committees (when requested), set public hearing dates...etc. The point is this can be routine but, if a Board member has a question or issue on a specific item they can pull it out from the common vote approval of the list.  Any pulled items can they be separately questioned, answered, discussed and voted individually. 
•  Cat 6 ... Public Hearing (If there is to be a Public Hearing, it will have been agreed at a previous Town meeting and there will have been multiple public notifications in the news paper. This enables interested parties "for or against" a particular issue to assemble and be heard. The goal of the PH is to air the complexity of issues and public sentiment... to better inform our elected officials. You can experience a broad swath of arguments to consider in weighing the  pros, cons consequences and costs  of a potential decision by our officials. The Mayor will usually manage the logistics and timing of the public input, especially when many citizens have come to speak. 

Hint: ..Get there early to get a seat or you may end up participating 

from the patio outside

Patrick Henry
"Wows the room"

Both Catagories 4 and 6 can be quite informative and entertaining. Imagine the raw verbal passion emoting the grassroots wisdom from the mouths of your fellow citizens/ comrades in arms

     Richmond Virginia: March 23, 1775 In wrapping up

     his public comments to the 2^nd Virginia Convention

     Patrick Henry stilled the air from corner to corner

     with his closing words…

    ”I know not what course others may take; 

     but as for me,…
    Give me liberty or give me death!”

A short Patrick Henry History Lesson can be found at this link
http://www.history.org/almanack/life/politics/giveme.cfm

Some Topic examples of past Public Hearings in Wrightsville Beach are:

1. Ban smoking on the Beach
2. Adoption of the Unified Development Ordinances (aka UDO - basically about the building codes & zoming)
3. Consideration of parking space exemptions or increased open patio space for a local bar/ restaurant
4. Zoning change requests
5. Comprehensive parking plan changes
6. The annual Budget

I'll have mine "well done please"
Regular Agenda

• Cat 7 ...Regular Agenda ...Aside from a Public Hearing this is the.. Meat & Potatoes of the meeting and the process of government. This is the item by item component where each piece is usually looking for voting decision or critical discussion of an issue that may lead to a Public Hearing or a future agenda vote. Often there will be a briefing by staff on research they have performed or a proposal they have prepared. There can be specific zoning/ variance requests brought forward by individuals. Perhaps the Police Chief is seeking funding to acquire a Live Scan Finger Print System or Personal Body Cameras for Police Officers or maybe the issue is reducing the speed limit on Salisbury Street for 1/8 mile to protect lives of bikers.

It is important that citizens know in advance what is on the agenda and what is coming up for a vote... Don't be a day late trying to give your input to our elected officials after the vote has taken place. It is very tough to unscramble an egg! 

....and now finally the last piece

• Cat 8 ...Other Items and Reports (This is where the Mayor, all Board members, Town Attorney, Town Clerk have a chance to share input to one another about what they see as upcoming issues for future agendas. As Board members also sit/ participate on other boards and committees in the town as well as county etc. this is a place where they bring in such information from far and wide (i.e. county transportation plans, beach renourishment, utilities...waste, water, power) Importantly the Town Manager generally gives a healthy dose of what's coming up. 

This is a great opportunity to gain a stronger understanding of issues driving the government activities. It is also a great opportunity to see, judge and build your impression of how well each member of the Board is working beyond just the town meeting in our behalf.

Caution: ...Don't be surprised if some Board Members seem to never have much of anything to contribute here. We see this segment of the meeting as one of the important indicators of individual Alderman performance which will be covered thoroughly in a future blog post.

Thanks for reading we hadn't expected it to be such a long post, but we hope you have learned something of value that may directly effect your future quality of life in Wrightsville Beach.

Please share this post with friends and family... basically anyone who has skin in the game regarding this town and of course feel free to comment below.

I like my nooks & crannies toasted, thanks

Next post up will be about, accessing the TOWB website and all the nook & crannies of public info!.


Reminder: Next TOWB BOA Meeting ia Dec. 13, 2012 6 pm... stop in and participate!

Noah & Liz