Agenda Item
V. Public Comment - Each meeting will have at least a 10-15 minute period for public comment. Each comment will be limited to three (3) minutes per person. Comments may also be provided prior to the meeting through the Granicus eComment feature on the City website.
It is concerning not to see an agenda item to answer the question "How will this committee engage the public during our discussions?"
The Charter Review Committee has spent much time on how they will organize their discussions and engage the community. Please consider following their lead.
They have the good fortune of having the former communications manager on their committee and have come up with an outline.
They have also broken their discussions into "buckets" so the committee discussions can be more focused.
Unless "Discussion of Topics and "Big Questions" is a discussion on how you will organize and address the topics thoughtfully to ensure public engagement, addressing all the questions seem overwhelming and unrealistic.
Consider just a Review and Discussion of NAC Resolution (12-05). Identify what is working and what isn't working and go from there.
My name is Diana Halleman and I have been a NAC5 coordinator since the inception of the NACs. I have several concerns - recruitment for participation as volunteer coordinators - more effort needs to be made in this area. Secondly, NACs used to have a budgeted amount of $$$ available to them for projects/needs/whatever and over the years that seems to have gone by the wayside. It needs to be reinstituted and encouraged to be used for projects, etc. For instance, NAC5 used to do a "back to school" event at Fredericktown Mall that eventually evolved into the Pangaea Festival that was held for a number of years. The Golden Mile Alliance also grew out of a NAC5 idea. Additionally, the NACs used to be required to provide a yearly/annual update to the Board of Aldermen on their accomplishments/needs/etc. That has not been done in years. Accountability is important as is getting new and younger folks involved with the NACs. I would like to see the development of a recruitment program to do just that and it would be nice to be considered important contributors to City Government instead of just an "after thought" which is what it feels like most of the time. Thank you for listening.