I'm posting this here instead of in Politics because the message might be more of a public service announcement as opposed to a core political observation....
In a rare moment of lucidity, the Elk County Commission yesterday decided to hold its' first meeting of each quarter this year at a later time which might provide more opportunity for public observation/participation.
The 1st meeting of each quarter will begin at 4PM (instead of 1PM), and the public comment phase will take place near the end of the meeting. Generic department reporting, bill payments & executive sessions will be in the early part of the meeting. Based on the norm, this will probably place the public comment session well after 5PM which may give more citizens a chance to be heard without having to take time off of work or other mid-day activities.
If county leaders & employees will now realize that employee presence (other than for required reporting) is voluntary as citizens, this change should require no overtime payments if employees choose to remain in attendance after work hours (with deference to the Clerk, of course, without whose presence the meeting would probably be a real mess).
Kudos to the commission for making this change.
This is great news. I'm glad they are doing this.
Excellent... maybe more will be able to attend now.