Monday, January 6, 2020

Richardson City Council Goals - Part 1


The Richardson City Council recently decided on the City's 2019-2021 Statement of Goals. There's so much to say about it. Where to start? Let's break this blog post into three parts, starting easy, with process. I'll move on to covering the (in)significant changes from last year, then close with my biggest disappointment.


First, process. I complained when the Council met to discuss their goals. I planned to watch the recorded video of the meeting. But I found out that no video was recorded. There was no attempt at a transcript of the deliberations. There was only the above cursory report in the minutes of the meeting. We do have the output of the meeting (the goals statement itself) but no record of the deliberations that led to it.

The exact same thing happened before. I was irritated then. Rereading what I wrote six years ago ("The Whole World is Watching. Not Any More."), I believe I could write the same things today, almost word for word. Most of what will happen in the next two years *should* be driven by the goals set early in a Council's term, so you might think it important to keep a record of the deliberations. Yet this practice of holding this goal-setting meeting in an unusual room, without cameras, keeps happening. I seem to be the only one who even notices. I hate to think I'm the only one who cares.

2 comments:

TreeDoctor said...

I appreciate your concern about this issue. After all, democracy dies in darkness.

Mark Steger said...

TreeDoctor, anonymous (or aliased) comments are not allowed. Please identify yourself.