Audience members who ask questions and voice concerns during the public comment period at the beginning of Haines Borough Assembly meetings could soon be hearing responses from elected leaders.
Traditionally, members of the public are invited to comment, but assembly members do not immediately reply. During a July 27 meeting, for example, Don Highsmith asked questions about the borough’s water quality and the Small Boat Harbor expansion project, but was told by Mayor Jan Hill, “We don’t respond during public comment.”
Resident Jerry Ballanco this week formally asked the assembly to consider changing that policy.
“This failure to publicly address a citizen concern discourages public input at government meetings. The failure to respond in an obvious manner could convey a lack of interest,” Ballanco said.
Ballanco said he understood the desire to balance the need for an orderly meeting with a policy that encourages public participation. But publicly responding to citizen views and questions could help reduce the “rancor and discord that sometimes revolve around difficult decisions,” he said.
“Comments made by members of the public to a decision-making body should be more than a pro forma exercise. These comments should be an integral part of the discussion,” Ballanco said.
Most assembly members appeared to agree, and the group discussed adding an assembly comment period after public comments to provide an opportunity for response. The agenda currently includes assembly comments at the end of the meeting, but often most audience members have left by that time, assembly member Mike Case said.
Assembly member Ron Jackson agreed that the existing set-up can be uncomfortable. “It always feels awkward up here to have people talking to you and you can’t say something back to them,” Jackson said.
Because the meeting agenda outline is established in code, changing the format will take an ordinance. Manager Bill Seward said he will work on a draft ordinance for assembly consideration.