Joe Citizen redux

City Council was last Wednesday. Even though the second reading of the proposed ordinance to increase the sales tax was on the agenda, I had planned to attend for informational purposes only. Council meetings have proven to be my best source of news coverage for the city of Mission, its relationship with the reservation, and the delicate question of tribal/city jurisdiction. Add a touch of gossip and a pinch of vigilantism, and City Council is worth an hour of my time two Wednesdays per month.

Anyway... The sales tax increase had been unanimously approved two weeks prior, even after my respectful commentary on, in my opinion, the city's minimal communication of the issue to local residents. The second reading was merely a matter of procedure. I had provided my opinion though, which was enough for me. That is, until last Wednesday's Tribune appeared in my mailbox.

City Council minutes are published in our weekly paper. It had been exactly two weeks since the meeting during which I spoke, and the minutes had not appeared in the prior week's edition. I was anxious mostly to see how my comments were interpreted in the minutes. What verb would they choose? "Mr. Laurent argued... complained... opined... commented...?"

But the minutes weren't in there. That was a problem. The second reading was that same evening, and the public hadn't been notified of the first reading. In my argument two weeks before, I had allowed for the fact the public had the minimum amount of information necessary to comment publicly on city business. But that assumes they had all of the requisite information in a timely manner.

I'm not a conspiracy theorist usually. I don't normally think the worst in people or public bodies right off the bat. I'm all about giving folks the benefit of the doubt. I will say, though, the thought crossed my mind the city deliberately didn't provide the minutes to the newspaper, allowing for minimal rebuttal to the increased sales tax. Check that, there would be no rebuttal because the public doesn't attend Council meetings; however, they would have at least had the opportunity to speak up. You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it appear at City Council.

I fretted all afternoon. On the one hand, I wanted to voice my opinion (again), building upon the dialog the council and I had at the last meeting. My thought was to postpone the second reading until the next Council meeting, providing enough time for the minutes from the first meeting to be published. And then vote on it. Simple. More than likely, no one would show up (besides me), and most certainly the vote would be unanimously in favor of the increase.

On the other hand, however, I had to think about my job. And my employer. And my VISTA commitment. Sandy and I had already appeared successfully in front of the council for work-related reasons. I'm a representative of Habitat for Humanity and VISTA here in Mission. I would have been risking my professional reputation by speaking up (again).

During my walk to the meeting, I had psyched myself up to respectfully suggest a postponement. The meeting began, and the sales tax issue was one of the first items on the agenda. The mayor brought up the proposed ordinance, there was an almost-immediate motion to approve, it was seconded, and the roll call was completed. Unanimous. I swear, it happened that fast. There was no solicitation of comments from the public (i.e. me). The last time, I was allowed the floor right after the agenda item was announced, even before the Council members. This time? Nothing.

It was startling how quickly they moved onto the next agenda item. The meeting wrapped up within the hour: Motion to adjourn, motion seconded, meeting adjourned. It was only then the mayor asked me, as if he just saw me, "Oh, sir. Did you have anything for the Council?" Kind of hard to miss me in a small office with the Council at a conference table, with just me and a police officer present otherwise.

I was caught off guard, but managed to remark on the minutes' absence from the paper. The woman from the city said sometimes she gets them in, sometimes she doesn't. Funny answer considering I had called the newspaper earlier that afternoon. When I asked the woman from the paper about the minutes, she rustled through her copy before replying, "Huh. She usually gets them in there in time."

I hate to say the fix was in, but come on! Unless there's some special rule where public comment is not allowed during the second reading of proposed ordinances, something smells. But what now? A letter to the editor maybe? I'm not sure yet. There are two things I am sure about though: 1.) Next time, I'll make sure I'm recognized when I want to make a public comment; and 2.) The local portion of the sales tax will increase to 2 percent on July 1.

P.S. Maybe I'm more paranoid than I thought. When I made that inquiry to the newspaper, I called from my cell phone instead of the office line. In case the paper had caller ID, I didn't want it to come across as from Habitat. I wanted to remain anonymous. Well, as anonymous as possible in Mission, South Dakota.