Council may get stop light

Barbara Diamond

City officials couldn’t decide Tuesday where to put a stop sign on

Nyes Place, but the council chamber might get a stop light.

The council voted 4 to 1 at its retreat Saturday to investigate

lighted clocks that go from green for talk, to yellow that cautions

time’s almost up, to red for stop, to replace the buzzer that shuts

off public comment at the council meetings. It was the only formal

vote at the retreat

“Anything, anything we can do to shorten meetings -- to not have

25-hour weeks for the council,” Councilwoman Toni Iseman said.

Time was the essence of the retreat: reducing the time of the

council meetings; making time to discuss city policies; and finding

time for all the invitations extended to the council took up most of

the time Saturday.

The retreat was open to the public. Only the evaluation of City

Manager Ken Frank was held behind closed doors.

Councilman Wayne Baglin opposed the notion of the stoplight.

“We have one of the most open meetings in Orange County,” Baglin

said. “We are the standard bearer for citizen involvement. This would

make [the process] more rigid.”

Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson said that limiting the number of

speakers to those who sign in would help shorten the meetings.

“I hate people who come up and say, ‘I wasn’t going to say

anything, but ...,’” Pearson said.

She also suggested that time could be saved if council members did

not feel it necessary to explain the reasons for their vote when it

has already been articulated by another council member.

“Just say, I agree and I am ready to vote,” Pearson said. “Why do

we have to have all the grandstanding?”

Proposals to shorten meetings included requiring anyone who wants

to address the council to sit in the front rows, now simply a

request; starting the meeting promptly at 6 p.m. and eliminating

extraordinary business and responses to public comments, as suggested

by Baglin.

“You talked a few minutes ago about the value of public input. Now

you are worried about the city manager, which is a first,” Iseman

said. “I think five minutes is well spent in responding.”

Baglin also said that too much business is conducted in closed

session.

“The people’s business should be done in public,” Baglin said.

In other action, the council discussed the plethora of invitations

it receives.

“People don’t understand,” Kinsman said. “They plan one event a

year, and they don’t realize we get two invitations a week. Some of

them cost more than our monthly salary.”

The council also asked Treasurer Laura Parisi and City Clerk Verna

Rollinger to write job descriptions to be included in the city code.

“Verna is probably the only one who knows it,” Kinsman said. “The

one we have was written after the first time she was elected.”

Rollinger will retire in December after more than 28 years in

office.