Youngstown City Council Meeting - Wednesday, April 15

[iwasthere]

we have seven council reps for the city, mayor and president of council. one of the seven council reps can take a month each and they can have a q/a on a radio station, so goes for the mayor, which he does and the president of council that leaves three months. the three months can be used by the many city blockwatches and the southside/westside coalition for q/a. i believe in the internet but not everyone has access to this media mode, use other media types that is my suggestion. Dennis roller does a great job in recording these city council proceedings. he records the finance committee meetings and the council, so no is left out of the loop. he is for hired for any meetings or events.

[john r. swierz]

   www.youngstownhappenings.com

[jay]

Mr. Roller uses a video camera to record council meetings.  Does anyone know where to view these council meetings on the internet?  I believe if others saw how the meetings were conducted, they too would be asking for a change in the meeting format.

[Mary_Krupa]

I would elect for a later meeting time myself since I work until 5 pm.

I believe that both Councilman Swierz and "I Was There"  have legitimate points to make. Yes, most definitely the format should be changed. When I lived in Denver, it was very clear what was going on at the council meetings. When I came back to Youngstown I was totally shocked at the lack of information at the council meeting. All I could think of was that this was another example of how extremely backward my hometown is. Certainly nothing to be proud of.

This may be "council's meeting" but what other forum is there for citizens to have direct access to the law-making process?

We do need to petition council to change its format. One council person in favor of it is not enough since it is a majority rule situation. However, I feel that the council person should be advocating with his colleagues that people want this.

[john r. swierz]

   


       Iwasthere, make up your mind, in a past post you stated that the internet should be used, council has posted in our web page.  In a past post I offered a suggestion on what to do for the time change. 
I have stated before that I am not a big fan of talk radio.  It is my understanding that the Mayor is on the radio once a month.  Personally I am out in my area daily talking to the people about whats happening in our Ward and the city.

[iwasthere]

i guess i am not the only one that wants a later time for council meetings to start in ytown according to several replies on this topic. there are some ytown residents that do not own/ access to a computer for the city's website on a regular basis. council must use all media means that are at their disposal for communicating with the general public. a monthly letter sent to the vindy about the city business, once a month with on a radio program(there are numerous radio programs) with a a/q from the listening audiences, town hall meetings around town are some suggestions to keep the communications lines open to the ytown citizens.

[Glenna]

I also think 7:00PM would be a great time. Tried to make the meeting last week and by the time I got there at 5:45 the meeting was over. It would be nice if they started later.

[john r. swierz]

   I would suggest that citizens need to do a letter campaign and request to speak at a council meeting.
   As I stated in a past post I personally don't have a problem meeting at a later time . The challenge is
   to get the other members to agree.

[Mary]

I think that a later starting time would be great for the citizens that actually work and pay the taxes that support the city. Just my opinion but if you dont work downtown its very hard  to get there on time.

[john r. swierz]

   Iwasthere, I guess you want this to be an ongoing discussion?   In reality , other then you, I have not had anyone tell me that they wanted the meetings to be at 7PM.  Our meeting times and dates  are on the website and citizens can call 330 742- 8709.  I will not get into a battle over this issue. I think it is unfair that you  seem to have annoited yourself to speak for even the majority of youngstown citizens.  Also you seem to be using strong verbage such "demanding" If council members do their research and question and recieve answers on pending legislation, there is now need to ask questions on the floor. That is how the process should work.  If you want to discuss this futher, call me.

[iwasthere]

council knows that the general public wants more input or knowledge about the happenings in the council actions during these montlhly council meetings. i attended several meetings on every side of ytown that these such issues are talked about to the council reps at these meetings. so, council cannot say they do not know what the people want from their reps. the ytown residents want the time change to 7pm and the ytown residents are demanding that everything that is passed and voted on during the council meetings are discussed to the general public in the council chambers. council meetings would be attended with larger volumes if they are announced on a regular basis in the newspaper, radio, internet and fliers.

[john r. swierz]

      If you want it changed then all council members must be lobbied.  Again, the finance committee only handles ordinances that deal with monies.  All other ordinances go thru the proper committee and moves to the floor thru sponsorship. The finance committee chooses to hold its meeting before the scheduled council meeting, this gives the public an opportunity to be informed, but they don't have to.
Over the years council has held it 's meetings at different times, it did not generate  more attendance.
Personally I would meet whenever! If the suspend and consent agenda was not used then there would be more discussion on legislation . I have always proposed slower passage and Mir discussion on the floor, but I am only one vote.

[iwasthere]

swierz, council must revamp on how they ran their council meetings. the caucus meetings are important because everything is discussed there and voted on in the council chambers at the 530 meeting. the 530 council meetings are a joke to the the general public that are in attendance due to the lack of discussion explaining to the general public in attendance for the meeting what the council is voting on that night. I WILL SAY IT AGAIN one must attend the finance/caucus meetings before council because that is where the said agenda  is discussed throughly not in the public during the regular council meetings. everyone that i know that attended council meetings left the meeting more confused after the meetings then before the meetings due to lack of communications between council and the public. my personal opinion is that council does not want to take the time to explain the public what is being voted on that night and they should esp when they are earning $28,000 plus fringe benefits. i strongly suggest that council must change the time from 530pm to 7pm so more of the general public can attend these PUBLIC COUNCIL MEETINGS. we the ytown taxpayers deserve at least that much respect, we are the ones that supply the council and the mayor's administration the monies they need to operate the city.

[john r. swierz]

   IWASTHERE, sorry but I must set the record straight!  The meeting that takes place before the Caucus and council meeting is the finance committee meeting. Any ordinance that deals with monies must be voted to the floor thru that committee.  At the Caucus meeting , council reaffirms which resolutions and ordinances will appear on the agenda  at the  council meeting.  The reason that the council meetings go so fast is that we use  the suspend and consent agenda.  Which means that we all agree to vote on the resolutions and ordinances  as a block. That means that we do not have to read each piece of legislation individually.  As I have stated before most of the grunt work is done by the various committees.

[iwasthere]

one must attend the caucus meeting before the regular council meeting that is where council passes everything and vote on the issues that pertain to council that evening in public during their regular meeting at 530pm. the caucus meeting takes place at 445pm before the regular council meeting.