| Kern County, CA | November 4, 2014 Election |
 |
Encourage Citizen Participation in City GovernmentBy Thomas R. WiknichCandidate for Mayor; City of Ridgecrest |
This information is provided by the candidate | |
I believe that the people deserve to be involved in decisions the council makes. And that the council has a duty to make it as easy as possible for people to participate.Encourage Citizen Participation in City Government. I believe that the people deserve to be involved in decisions the council makes. And that the council has a duty to make it as easy as possible for people to participate. I believe that the people should be involved in decisions the council makes. And that the council has a duty to make it as easy as possible for people to participate. The last time I served on the council, I initiated MONTHLY Town hall meetings. This was stopped as soon as I left office. This was informal. Anyone could come in and discuss any issue they wanted to provide comments on. The way council meetings are run, needs to be changed. Currently now, during council meetings, an agenda item is called for consideration. Then a staff report is provided. Then the council and mayor make some comments. Then it is opened up for PUBLIC input and comments. During public comment, there is rarely a back and forth dialog with the people. Then public comment is closed. THIS IS THE PROBLEM: It comes back to the council for final comment and votes. Many times council members will even make rebuttal comments to what the public says. But the public then is NOT allowed to provide any additional comment to clarify their comments or even have a open discussion on the topic. As a matter of fact, I have even seen people rise up to be heard, to only be told to sit down, as public comment is over. This is NOT a true open discussion of the topics at hand. |
Candidate Page
|| Feedback to Candidate
|| This Contest
November 2014 Home (Ballot Lookup)
|| About Smart Voter
ca/kr Created from information supplied by the candidate: October 10, 2014 11:46
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.