AV Town Council: Transparent or restrictive?
June 7th, 2008, 1:21 pm · 1 Comment · posted by bedwards
In the five months I’ve been covering Apple Valley for the Daily Press, I’ve been both impressed and taken aback by the way business is conducted during Town Council meetings.
Before the meeting even starts, Apple Valley’s council agendas are easily accessible through the Town’s Web site. Supporting documents are linked separately, making it easy to get to what’s needed without sifting through the entire agenda. This shows me that the town actually wants its public to be able to understand what’s being voted on which is, after all, the point of the meetings.
The council meetings are long — significantly longer than those in my other beat of Victorville. While this can seem to be a negative, after a long day or for those waiting to hear that one item on the agenda that always seems to come up last, I’ve come to see it as a positive because of what it means.
In Apple Valley, I often feel like I’m actually watching democracy take place, with councilmembers unabashedly asking questions of each other and of town staff. While it would be nice to see a more varied group, with a woman or two or some ethnic diversity represented, the council does have different viewpoints and they don’t typically try to hide it, hopefully knowing that it’s healthy for people with different opinions and backgrounds and personalities to speak for a community that is far more varied than they are.
I’ve been a bit disappointed when councilmembers have used meeting time to serve their own agendas, taking jabs at neighboring cities or at the Daily Press, but this comes with the territory I suppose.
I was, however, truly shocked by what took place during a meeting a couple weeks ago, when Mayor Jasper stopped the audience from applauding after a citizen’s three-minute speech. He said he wouldn’t allow it in case it discouraged those with differing viewpoints from feeling comfortable speaking up. I received several messages and several readers commented on the DP Web site after this took place, appalled by this outburst. I hope that, in the future, the mayor will allow his public to express their opinions openly and appropriately through such things as applause.
However, something new has come up for this coming Tuesday’s agenda that shows me the town is responding a bit to the requests of the public. The town is preparing to vote on updated park ordinances that give a bit more leeway for bikes on pathways, which all regular VVDailyPress.com viewers will know is a frequent topic of comment. Watch this week’s Web site and paper for a full story on this topic, and attend Tuesday’s meeting to hear how the vote goes.
Oh, and feel free to express yourselves as you see fit…
July 10th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Jasper is politically wrong in his bantering w/ Sagona. He already made the decision to speak first at the VVSunrise Rotary meeting in stead of AV venues, so what was his point at this moment. He was just mentioning that this was what he can do. Leaving office has it’s affects sometimes w/ the “I don’t care what you think attitude I’m gone”.And for the rest of the council to sit idlly by waiting for this to blow over leads me to wonder now where are the morals that make up the fabric of the concil. Nassif and Roelle made a bigger impact by being quite. These are the voices of the Apple Valley town. And I would of had more respect for them to speak up. Regardless of their position of the matter. Mayor Turner did the right thing getting up and leaving, At least he made his position clear but more importantly stood up for his belief. Take a lesson and learn Jasper, respect is important in teaching our young AV children, as a leader of our town I am glad you are now taking your toys and going home to play w/ your family. I hope their voices will be heard by you and you show them the respect that left you in dealing w/ Mr. Sagona. May this moment serve as a constant reminder of the one wrong thing you did. It kinda wipes the slate clean of all the good. Mr. Sagona is a fine man w/ AV in his blood. He was right and I applaud his position on the matter. I hope in the future we get the State of the Town info first. We as AV town residents are politically owed that much. You were selected to serve AV not make it your own little SIM town. Shame on you!