By Noah Dawson
Last night probably encapsulated the mood and procedure of a typical city council meeting in Amarillo better than any of the ones I’ve been to since I started regularly attending back in the spring.
First, there was the work session. For several reasons, I did not make it to the meeting until the tail end of the work session, but the ideas discussed at the end of the session were as bad if not worse than many I have seen since I started regularly attending council meetings. They decided to move the public comment portion of the meetings to noon. Really! I thought 7am was a bad idea, but this is ridiculous. Of course, the council was able to make the excuse that they want more people to be able to speak, as they increased the length of the comment from 30 minutes to 1 hour. However, having more time to speak doesn’t mean much when most of the city is at work. Even if they leave for lunch to make the public comment, they will have to make their way downtown, hoping traffic doesn’t fail them, and then hope that their speaking slot lines up with the time they are able to be there before heading back. After all of that, eating lunch is out of the question. Of course, during the discussion, the issue of the schedules of regular citizens took a back seat to the issue of how the council could work the meetings into their schedule. I have a hard time believing any council members ran for council against their will.
Then came the regular meeting. Before the public comment period, the city manager spoke to the audience as if we were children by talking about how we need to keep the rules of decorum in mind when speaking. I spoke on four topics.
I urged that an error on the proposed minutes for last week’s minutes be amended before passing the consent agenda. No amendment was made, meaning that the information under the official minutes of last week’s city council meeting is false.
I urged that the council use free software instead of spending over a million dollars on Microsoft Office. I did receive a response to my email regarding the issue from Mr. Miller and Amarillo’s IT director regarding my open letter on the issue, where issues about compatibility and security were brought up. I understand his concerns with regards to compatibility with other programs, but the concerns about security are, in my opinion, unfounded. Open source software is often inherently more secure than closed source software. According to IT expert Alon Ganon, LibreOffice has never caused “any issues or security problems to the clients [he has] recommended it to.” He also stated that "most security issues with office are in MS Office, not LibreOffice," due to Linus' Law. Of course, the council passed this issue, along with the rest of the consent agenda, with a unanimous vote.
I urged that the council reconsider moving meeting times. The city simply defended their choice.
I urged that the council sign the six ballot measure initiative petitions I helped start. As far as I know, not one member of the council has signed nor expressed support or even interest in the petitions, symbolizing their disconnect with the people.
The council again failed to do their jobs. They failed the people. If we the people sound emotional when we complain about various issues to the city council, it's not hard to see why.
City Council
Photo by City of Amarillo