Council opens on-line door for wider public comment

LAKEWOOD – Citizens who up to now were forced to hold their tongue during City Council’s study sessions, now have an opportunity to post their comments on-line and can expect city officials to take a lengthier look at many of the city’s most important issues.

The idea, floated by Ward 4 Councilman Adam Paul and honed by Council members during their annual retreat, made its debut last week when the city’s governing body discussed two weighty issues: on-street parking for recreational vehicles and a potential City Charter election that could change the time-line for special elections.

“The main goal is to really do issues that are important and are issues that really affect the citizens directly and may have greater impacts,” Paul said Tuesday. “The Charter is like our Constitution and that’s a huge change” potentially, Paul said. “And the RV parking is something people can be pretty emotional about.

“There’s only 11 of us and we don’t have all of the best ideas. So to go out and be able to solicit that input” is important, “ Paul said.

Council is considering a request by City Clerk Margy Greer that would allow her staff as much as 180 days to prepare for a special election as well as requiring all citizen-initiated ballot measures – initiatives and referendums – be conducted only in November as part of the coordinated Jefferson County election ballot. The Charter now requires the elections be held within 30 to 90 days.

Greer said delaying such elections would save the taxpayers $240,000 in each election.

Council also is considering limits on on-street parking for recreational vehicles. There currently are no parking restrictions for RVs less than 25-feet long.

Paul and other Council members decided it was time to engage the public sooner than later.

“The idea was to find another way to get input earlier from people who have interests in whatever we’re discussing,” Paul said.

In the past, Council members’ first dose of public comment came as it considered proposed ordinances as they prepared to vote on the final product.

“We’re to the point where we’re voting on it and somebody could come up and have a hell of a good idea, but it’s a lot tougher to implement it at that point,” Paul said.

Paul’s original intent was to take public comments during study sessions, but some Council members were concerned that move could displace the focus of such meetings, which are intended to be informational briefings and brainstorming sessions for Council with staff present to field questions.

To accommodate those concerns, Council decided to take the less-direct – and less time consuming – approach, allowing citizens the chance to enter their thoughts and opinions via the city’s web site. The approach is much like that taken to seek public comment on a City Hall proposal to amend the city’s Zoning Code.

Mayor Bob Murphy said the city has relied on “traditional” sources of community input – such things as neighborhood meetings, Council members’ Ward meetings and homeowner association meetings, phone calls and e-mail – to determine “the pulse of the community.”

“But there have been circumstances where you get down to that second reading and you sort of wish you had an extra study session or a couple more weeks. So this is the direction we are trying,” Murphy said.

In addition to the on-line comments, Council is spending more time and moving with less haste when considering issues with greater potential impacts.

“That’s another thing we talked about at the retreat,” Murphy said. “Some of these more complex issues and, theoretically, issues of broad interest to the community, we are trying to build in some of that extra time.”

So far, the results are trickling in: Only about 20 folks have posted comments about the proposed Charter changes and the RV parking issue.

Councilman Paul predicts the expanded opportunity for community discussion via the Internet and the more deliberate pace of Council action on the most controversial issues will “absolutely” become the norm.

“When making laws, there’s always, I think, unintended consequences. When you have more time and more input, you are able to kind of think out of the box and say ‘Hey, if we did this, what would that impact, how would this work, what would happen’,” Paul said.