Committee of The Whole - Garbage Discussion - Part II

Public Comment

The evening started, and essentially ended for a majority of the crowd, with public comment. Normally public comment is reversed for the end of a village board meeting since Mayor Podgorski’s administration. Prior to that time it was held in the beginning of the meeting. Essentially the public comment portion is basically what its name suggests – public comment. Tonight’s meeting turned into a forum. The Mayor has been holding monthly forums to discuss various matters with the village residents in a question and answer format which is where residence and elected officials can expect to debate issues. Previously this board has engaged with various individuals during public comment and were advised by counsel that public comment is not the appropriate forum to debate matters. In retrospective should this have been explained tonight in advance? Yes. I think this added to the frustration of many of the audience member who believed that we are being intentionally secretive or unresponsive to questions of the audience. Many of the same questions were raised by the Trustees after Trustee Kapteyn's presentation.

Once public comment was concluded 75% of the audience left without hearing 1) the actual committee report on the potential privatization of garbage; or 2) hearing the questions, concerns and feelings of the board members on the issue. This was frustrating but I believe that it wasn’t made apparent to the audience that there was going to be a presentation by the Chairperson of Public Works, Trustee Kapteyn and discussion by the board.

Tonight the board was not responding to the inquiries of many of the residents because 1) it is public comment and we are not supposed to engage people in a public debate, 2) the board didn’t have the answers because the report Trustee Kapteyn had not been given at that time and we had questions of our own. Many of the questions the members of the audience were asking were the same questions the trustees had prepared in advance.