Commentary

The Rule and Rudeness of City Hall

January 17, 2004

Puzzling Words Top the City Council Agenda
Curiously, there is an unusual paragraph at the top of the agenda for the January 20 city council meeting. It says:

The mayor and city council welcome comments from the public during the appropriate time for public input. Members of the public should stand (if able) and wait to be recognized, state your name and address for the record, and limit remarks to three minutes unless more time is permitted by the presiding officer. Members of the public should refrain from interrupting the council during the council's deliberations.

During our nearly five years of attending council meetings, the mayor and council members have generally welcomed public comment. Never in that time has there been any such instruction as the one posted this week. Nor have we noticed any significant instances of behavior on the part of visitors that would warrant such a policy. Sure, there have been awkward moments, but they have been few in number, and even they enhance the democratic process. Nor do we know of other small towns with such a policy. Perhaps our biggest issue with this turn of events is that there has been no public discussion by the Gilbert mayor and council to support such a policy.

Awkward Moments
Probably the most awkward moment at a council meeting was in 2000 when a local man who was developing his family's property to sell lots for homes attended a council meeting. He was trying to explain his position. Bob Jaquis, who was the mayor at the time, practically shouted the man down. Bob proclaimed that it was his (Bob's) meeting and he would run it as he wanted to. In that case, it was Bob who was the embarrassment. Unfortunately, no one on the council chided him, reminded him that it was the council's meeting on behalf of its citizens, or recommended that the council actively listen to the visitor.

Perhaps the longest awkward moment was a year ago when the baseball members of Gilbert's parks and rec commission and council member Chris Benda suggested to the representatives of the North Story County Little League that they could attend a meeting and speak during the open forum. That's a great way to skirt being on the agenda which is OK in some respects, especially for issues that entail no policy discussion or action on the part of the council. However, the representatives spoke almost nonstop for about 30 minutes, interrupted only by a few questions from the council, but with no hint from the mayor or council members that they should wind up their remarks. However, although the timing was awkward, the visitors were well-intended and their information seemed important.

Another awkward time was at a meeting this past year. A landowner from south of Gilbert gave the mayor and council members a piece of her mind about fairness in regard to the development of the town's comprehensive plan. Although she came off sounding a little eccentric, we can understand why she would be bothered by the bias of the plan.

Indeed, instances such as these have been so few in number that there is no need for such a policy as the one published this week. Instead, public officials should know that listening to people and accepting public input is part of what they were elected to do. Also, for the record, we should note that the council meetings often last only 30-40 minutes. Of course there have been longer meetings, but we have no sense that council members have had to log longer hours at the council table than should be expected of them.

New or Old Leadership
We've got a new mayor, Yvonne Wannemuehler. However, maybe we are in for some of the business as usual attitude of the former mayor, Bob Jaquis, who is now a council member, and the returning council members. Most of them don't seem to understand that the idea of Iowa's open meeting laws is for council business to be conducted in the public light so that citizens can understand the basis and rationale of the decisions made by its elected officials. It will be interesting to learn how the policy evolved and the rationale for publishing it with no prior council discussion or approval.

We are reserving judgment as to whether Yvonne would be a good mayor or not. Admittedly, it does take awhile to learn the ropes. Also, with the old mayor now sitting on the council, Yvonne's situation is akin to that of an assistant pastor taking the position of senior pastor while the old head pastor stays on the church board.

It is possible that Yvonne will develop into a wise, fair, and competent mayor. She chaired the planning and zoning commission meetings quite graciously and was pretty flexible about public input. However, our fear has been and continues to be that as mayor, she will be a pawn of Bob and his cronies. Even when Yvonne was chair of the P and Z commission, there were several signs that it was Bob, the mayor, who truly controlled the process of developing the town's comprehensive plan.

Where did the new policy about public input at council meetings come from? We don't know, but if it is Yvonne's first act in office, it does not bode well for the kind of leadership we can expect of her in the next two years. We might have a different perspective if the policy was one small part of an overall set of decisions that were well-discussed and approved by the council at a public meeting.

An Irony in Council Attitudes
The new policy presents an irony. We have often heard the P and Z commission and the city council talk about how they value Gilbert's small town character. In fact, we clearly remember council member Jon Popp's claim that Gilbert is basic, small town U.S.A., plain and simple. Come on fellows — well, we mean Yvonne and the council members — a formal policy regarding public input at your meetings may be appropriate for a city like Des Moines or Chicago or a hearing by the Department of Natural Resources on the construction of a hog factory. It is not consistent with the small town character of Gilbert.

Enforcement Logistics
How are you going to enforce the policy? Do you have money in the city budget to purchase a 12-inch, digital egg timer that everyone in the room can view? Will you remember to start the timer and reset it when each new visitor begins to speak? What happens if the mayor, one of you council members, or another visitor interrupts a comment? Will you have a calculator to determine the balance of minutes that the visitor can speak following your comments or questions? Will all speakers get equal time, or are you prepared for a law suit for unequal treatment of visitors? Surely the money in your budget for an attorney could be better used for other purposes. And surely, you don't want your insurance company to raise the city's insurance premiums because the city gets involved in a second law suit when your last one was settled not so long ago. Also, how can you truly listen to the input of a visitor, wisely think through the input, and provide an appropriate response if you focus on the egg timer and the three-minute rule. Besides, what digital tune or tone will signal the end of a visitor's three minutes? And who will police the rules? What happens if a person is midway into a presentation when you realize he or she forgot to stand up? Do you engage in active listening or kick the mayor under the table so that she will direct the visitor to stand?

Better Ways to Begin a New Administration
We wonder if there aren't better ways that Yvonne could have started her administration. It is wise at the beginning of a two-year term, when a council is newly-constituted, for it to discuss how its members want to work together. An example would be the development of guidelines for submitting material for meeting agendas or a conversation about the goals for the upcoming year. She could have initiated that discussion.

Yvonne could also have facilitated conversation about how the council could communicate better with the public. Certainly, she and the council have read the input provided by Gazette editor Helen Gunderson for the public hearings in December about the town's comprehensive plan.

Helen's point was that a mere holding of Gilbert to a specified growth rate in order to maintain a small town character is insufficient to meet that goal and will fail. She also suggested that it was essential that the mayor and council develop a plan for improving communication, engendering trust, increasing citizen involvement, and building community spirit in this era when Gilbert is becoming more like a sub-division than a town.

One of Yvonne's first steps as mayor could have been to get the city email system up and running. As far as we know, it has been out of order since last June. She could also have made sure the meeting agendas were more accessible to the public than merely posting them at one place — city hall.

The Council's Role
Admittedly, the mayor does not have a vote at council meetings. Her main job is to be a good moderator. The council members are the ones whose voices count. A mere three of them could vote to put these important issues on the table. But then again, four of the council members have been impervious to input about the need for a more open government and better communication with the public. Those suggestions have rolled off them like water off a duck.

Rudeness
On December 1 during the council's public hearing on the comprehensive plan, when Helen read from a letter, Yvonne interrupted and said that perhaps Helen did not understand what a comprehensive plan was meant to be. Mayor Bob Jaquis started chortling and had to put his hand to his mouth to restrain his momentary, contemptuous laughter and cover his rudeness.

For the record, Helen has attended several meetings over the past four years regarding Gilbert's comprehensive plan, had studied the final draft thoroughly, and was probably as aware as anyone in the council chambers, except the consultants, about the possibilities of what such a plan could be. A cynic would say that the plan essentially determines which landowner gets to stand in line first to sell his or her land to a developer and make a bunch of money, like to the tune of millions of dollars. A person putting a positive spin on the plan would say it is a tool for ensuring the vitality of the town into the future with the citizenry, not developers, directing the growth of the community.

At the the first meeting of the new year, which was held on January 5, it was quite obvious that council member Bob Jaquis was still calling the shots. Prior to the call to order, he sat next to Yvonne, giving her advice, presumably on how to run the meeting. Often during the course of the meeting, Yvonne turned to Bob, seeking advice on how to proceed.

During the open forum, Helen referred the fact that the minutes of the previous meeting did not mention that the mayor and two council members had been sworn in that night and recommended that the minutes be amended. She then asked about the who, where, and when in relation to Chad Cook taking the oath of office. Bob chimed in to say that Helen would have to study the document at city hall. Neither Yvonne or any other council member said a thing. Someone in the hall should have retorted, "So what do you have to hide? We would like to know the answer to the question."

In the moments after the meeting was adjourned, the mayor and council members were talking in small groups near the council table. Helen stepped inside the office and asked deputy clerk, Carolyn Main, if the oath of office papers were handy for viewing. Carolyn reached for them on the nearby desk and handed them to Helen, who began read them. Bob had been talking with Jon Popp, then turned, looked across the council chambers, and noticed Helen in the office. His face took on a chagrined, mean-spirited look. He bolted to the office and demanded in a stern voice that Helen leave the room, claiming that city hall was closed. Never in our years of following city hall have we seen this kind of dictate. It has been common for a visitor to step inside the city office after a meeting to ask a question, request an easily available item, or make arrangements with the staff.

Essentially, Bob's behavior was rude, lacked in equal treatment of citizens, and consisted of what we believe to be arbitrary and capricious discrimination. His behavior also begs the question of authority. He is no longer the town's executive officer. He is no longer the supervisor of employees. The city code delegates those roles to the mayor.

Helen probably should have asked Bob what his basis of authority was for asking her to leave the office. She could then have asked, "Since when has city hall been closed so promptly after a meeting when there are plenty of people around, the lights are still on, and the door has not been locked for the night?" In light of Bob's history of micro-managing the city staff, Helen could have suggested that he trust the deputy clerk to handle such situations and that if he was uncomfortable with Carolyn's performance, that he take his concerns to the mayor, the clerk's legitimate supervisor. However, in light of the fuming look on Bob's face and his harsh directive, Helen was probably wise to give the paper back to Carolyn and leave the room.

Many people know of Bob's autocratic style when he was mayor. It would be sad if if he is allowed to continue his control of city hall. Please Yvonne, don't abdicate your power to him. We expect more of you than that. Also, if Bob is not held in check in his role as a city official, his style and temperament could potentially lead him to cross the line in terms of due process, invidious discrimination, and similar issues. Would you and the council want to use your time and city resources to redeem such a situation? Do you want the town's image to be at risk? Enough said.

Hold Your Leaders Accountable
Well, perhaps there is good reason for the new policy about public input at council meetings. But there is never a good reason for rudeness and wrongful use of authority. Contact your elected leaders. Ask questions. Write and let us know what you find out. Make suggestions. Hold the mayor and council members accountable. Encourage them to show new colors. Discourage them from business as usual.

Because public input will be regimented at city hall by the new policy, it will help to have several people from the community take it upon themselves to attend at least a couple council meetings a year. If more people speak their three-minute limits when there is an issue at city hall, maybe some of the input will sink in. Remember, the final authority for what happens in Gilbert government rests in the hands of its people. Consider this as a campaign to take back Gilbert and make it the place you want it to be with a government that you can take pride in. If we can't do that, then there is little hope over the next few decades of Gilbert being a place that was able to maintain/reclaim its small town character.
     

During the open forum section of Gilbert's January 20 council meeting, Gazette editor Helen Gunderson questioned the mayor and council about the new policy regarding public input at meetings. She also commented on the unorthodox way in which the policy had been developed and adopted. We have posted a transcript of the conversation between her and Mayor Yvonne Wannemuehler. We have also posted a Real Audio file of the conversation.

You will need the Real Audio player to listen to file. If you don't already have the software, you can download the free version from the Real Audio web site.