Janesville City Council debates meeting starting time
Other business
The Janesville City Council on Monday annexed the Kwik Trip Store on Highway 51 on the south side of town and granted the convenience store a beer license.
The business will be able to sell beer without having separate buildings as required under city ordinances because it is grandfathered in.
JANESVILLE — Some city council members on Monday took pity on residents who sit in council chambers for hours waiting for their issues to be discussed.
Members made the comments while discussing a proposal to move meeting start times to 6 or 6:30 p.m. rather than the current 7 p.m. A decision was postponed.
The Janesville Gazette had requested meetings start earlier so more council news can get in the next day’s newspaper now that it is delivered in the morning. As things stand, reporters covering meetings must leave at about 9:30 p.m.
For instance, discussions on sidewalk policy, the skatepark and the Tallman House—three major issues—were yet to be discussed Monday when a Gazette reporter left at 9:45 p.m.
The skatepark was item number 19 out of 28 on Monday’s agenda, and the Tallman House was 20. The meeting still was going on close to midnight.
Some council members said mismanaged agendas and lengthy public comment periods are partly to blame for the long meetings. And council members Kathy Voskuil, Bill Truman and Russ Steeber said it is not their worry the Gazette can’t get news in the next day’s paper.
“To change a charter ordinance to accommodate one business because they chose to change their print time, I cannot support,” Truman said.
Council members Yuri Rashkin and Tom McDonald said a change would benefit the public at large, not the Gazette. McDonald preferred a 6 p.m. start to encourage more people to participate in the meeting or watch the whole meeting at home.
Steeber balked at changing a charter ordinance.
“Charter ordinances are done for the good of the people in the best interest of the people,” he said, adding that charter ordinances should be changed by referendum only.
However, Steeber proposed moving public comments to 6:30 p.m. so the council could begin business at 7 p.m.—essentially starting the meeting earlier without changing the charter ordinance.
Public comment can bog down the meetings and delay the business others are there for, Steeber said.
Brunner said some problems could be fixed if the agenda were better managed, with non-timely items pushed to shorter meetings.
Voskuil said she didn’t think the council would necessarily get done an hour earlier if it started an hour earlier. She said her responsibilities as a mother make it hard to get to a 6 p.m. meeting.
Voskuil said she didn’t want to discourage residents from running for council with an earlier start time, and she didn’t want to lose the informal listening sessions council members can attend at 6 p.m.
McDonald said only a handful of residents attend listening sessions, so they could be heard from 6 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
“The goal of this, ultimately, is to get information to the public,” McDonald said. “People are not having to stay up until 10 or 10:30 p.m. to watch the end of the meetings.”
Rashkin said he thinks more people would run for council if the meetings started earlier.
He said he looked at the issue from the Gazette’s side, the council’s side and the public’s side. It makes a lot of sense to start earlier for two of the groups—the Gazette and the council, he said.
Several council members said they could accept a 6:30 p.m. start.
“I don’t look at it as necessarily being something to, say, directly benefit the local media,” Brunner said. “I would hope it would benefit citizens and provide citizens with an incentive to come and attend meetings and also get us out of here 30 minutes earlier.”
The discussion bogged down on when to schedule public comments, and McDonald made the motion to postpone the vote until council member Frank Perrotto was present.
That vote was approved, with Truman and Rashkin voting no.
Dec 16, 2009 at 1:52 p.m.
Suggest removal
AGAIN?
Is this such a tough thing to figure out? I heard this on WCLO. The blame was put on the Gazette before now the blame is on something else? Or is this the other way around. I heard something about "family time" . If you're on the council you WILL lose some family time in case you didn't realize that when you signed up. If they're there until 12 am then it isn't going to be in the paper at 6 am anyway.
I find it interesting they are already talking of the ice arena- fire station spot not working. I called this long ago!
"“Charter ordinances are done for the good of the people in the best interest of the people,” he said, adding that charter ordinances should be changed by referendum only."
I guess the ice arena is just not that important(and doesn't waste much money) to ask the WHOLE(referendum) public about.
You want a referendum about the time of a meeting but when it comes to spending millions of tax payers dollars you wont let us vote!?
My opinion is MOST of give don't give a hoot about our opinions only what YOU want to do.
"Public comment can bog down the meetings and delay the business others are there for, Steeber said."
Again I state "hate to waste you time!"
I see people on here state if you want to make a difference go to the meeting and speak your mind. Seems not many can speak in 30 minutes. WOW that is so much time to her from the public. Could you spare a square?
Danman- I cannot go I have to work but I have seen the tapes and YES they seem annoyed to be there at all! YOU signed up for this DO YOUR JOB!
Dec 16, 2009 at 10:44 a.m.
Suggest removal
Ms Voskuil, Who tucks your kids into bed if you are out so late????Nice try pulling out the mother card!!!HA!HA!
Dec 16, 2009 at 5:53 a.m.
Suggest removal
Wankers! Just a bunch of Wankers. Have you ever been to a city council meeting? It's like the people going before the royalty, begging for scraps. The members of the royal council sit there and act as if they are being bothered by our concerns. If you have never been to one, I suggest you waste, I mean spend an evening at one. It will change the way you view the city government.
Dec 16, 2009 at 12:40 a.m.
Suggest removal
If the meeting time is changed to coddle the press deadline then who is saying the press time won't change again someday? The city needs to ignore the press deadline. Maybe ask the Beloit Daily News to cover?
Dec 16, 2009 at 12:36 a.m.
Suggest removal
The press deadline is not relavent here - the minutes of the meeting can be published THE NEXT DAY - no big deal. A lot of to-do over nothing here.
Dec 15, 2009 at 11:50 p.m.
Suggest removal
The point is not the reporter's time. The point is the publication time of the Gazette. Whether the same reporter or a second one, anything after 9:30 or so is not going to make it into the paper.
.
I don't see an easy solution here -- moving the meetings up might just have the effect of seeming to make more time available and the meeting will expand to fill it (version of Parkinson's Law). And even attempts to hold shorter meetings will always have some tail end stuff happening that will miss the paper. Adapting to this request will have less of an effect than anticipated.
Dec 15, 2009 at 10:23 p.m.
Suggest removal
justaskpeck is missing the point...it's not reporter coverage time...it's printing deadline time....the presses roll...
They are probably the same ones complaining that the morning Gazette doesn't contain the LA Dodgers score ....
Dec 15, 2009 at 10:14 p.m.
Suggest removal
Janesville govt probably has more going on then most people think. These meetings need to take-up a lot of time. The only reasonable solution is to publish the timetable in advance - and stick to it. That way the general public can show-up only when the issue that concerns them is scheduled.
Dec 15, 2009 at 10:10 p.m.
Suggest removal
We should not run our city around the gazette deadline timetable.
Dec 15, 2009 at 10:08 p.m.
Suggest removal
I agree with peck - a second reporter can show-up when the first one has to leave. It's just common sense.
Dec 15, 2009 at 9:40 p.m.
Suggest removal
get a clue peck...
Dec 15, 2009 at 8:25 p.m.
Suggest removal
they should hire a second reporter to show-up at 9:30.
Dec 15, 2009 at 8:24 p.m.
Suggest removal
The gazette only has one reporter? I doubt it.
Dec 15, 2009 at 8:04 p.m.
Suggest removal
It seems that the council is up to their usual thing of doing what THEY want. They are elected to represent the public but they feel that they know better then us what we want/need.
Dec 15, 2009 at 6:24 p.m.
Suggest removal
See how some members of the council don't belong there. The remarks by the three were not in good taste. And yet, they can vote for projects which cost us taxpayers. They don't want the input by the public, they might have a closed session of council meetings.
Dec 15, 2009 at 5:34 p.m.
Suggest removal
"and also get us out of here 30 minutes earlier".Read:get the citizens out of the way so we can move on to our own agenda in a timely manner.
Before you post a comment, consider this:
Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy AgreementPost Comment
Commenting requires registration.