Quarterly At-Large Council Member Roundtable Meeting Set

This is a unique opportunity to have an open discussion with elected officials

Back in 2017, Council Member Todd Severt and I ran for City Council with a desire to improve communications between city hall and the residents we serve. As part of that effort was the establishment of the quarterly “Ask-A-Council Member” workshops. These workshops weren’t designed to discuss pending legislation, but were a more general discussion to bring the citizens residents and council members closer together in a way to facilitate open discussions on those items that residents wanted to bring forward.

Many of the issues that were brought up were the bread and butter concerns that make up local government — Everything from faded stop signs to parks that needed attention took up a lot of the discussion. But many discussions also focused on how the government works. There were questions about what departments were responsible for certain functions. Other questions included the role of council in the decision-making process. These discussions were always informal and informative.

The format allowed for a free-flowing discussion of our community without having to navigate a city council meeting and waiting until the very end to have an opportunity to discuss issues. And while city council meetings are opportunities to for residents to express their concerns, these meetings aren’t necessarily the best format to have an open dialogue between residents and elected officials.

In fact, the last event of this type, held at the Lincoln Community Center in March, provided an open discussion between the community and the Troy Historic Preservation Alliance. At the meeting, the Alliance requested the city and the council’s help in trying to resolve the issue with the “load test” that was being required in order to renovate the embattled IOOF Building.

The second “Ask-A-Council Member” workshop of the year will take place this coming Saturday, July 13th at 9:00 a.m. at the Troy Senior Citizens Center, 134 North Market Street. I plan to be in attendance and if you have a question that you want asked, please feel free to send me your question to william.lutz17@gmail.com or leave your question in the comment thread. I’ll ask your question and follow up with you on the answer.

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Finally, our reader survey for July is looking for responses! Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas on your hometown! You can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PF6SPPN