When Alder Satya Rhodes-Conway sent out an email to the neighborhood listserves to get people to serve on city committees, as she always does, there was quite the response this time. And sadly, it was one where residents expressed concern about losing faith in the city committee system.
Here’s how it all started:
All –
One of the things that makes our city government go is the dedicated citizens that serve on city committees and commissions. Public service is the “price and promise” of citizenship that President Obama described. More information on City Committees is here: http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/mycommit.html. If you’re interested, you can fill out an application here: http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/pdfs/commappt.pdf . A list of vacancies is here: http://www.cityofmadison.com/mayor/vacancy.html. Right now, there are vacancies on the following committees:
Affirmative Action Commission
Board of Building Code, Fire Code and licensing appeals (builder)
Community Development Block Grant Commission (low income rep)
Downtown Coordinating Committee
Economic Development Commission
Commission on the Environment
Housing Committee
Parks Commission
Parking Council for People with Disabilities
Sustainable Design and Environment Committee
Senior Citizens Advisory Committee
Vending Oversight Committee
Transit and Parking Commission
Water Utility Board
Zoning Board of Appeals
Disabled Parking Enforcement Assistance CouncilPlease let me know if you have any questions or if you decide to apply!
Thanks
Satya
To my surprise, this was one of the immediate responses, from someone I thought was a mayoral ally:
What about dedicated citizens who are excoriated by the mayor and some alders for daring to have an opinion different than their own? What about Common Council-approved city committees that are never convened because the mayor loses interest? What about star chambers that ALRC members set up because the public process is too challenging (public and therefore accountable) for them to deal with?
How does this anti-participatory democracy tendency mesh with the “price and promise” notion of citizenship that you’re supporting? Why not be honest? I think our city government has become very antagonistic towards citizen commissions and don’t see any indication that this will change anytime soon.
Those comments were followed by discussion about what could be done to get people to participate and the merits of trying to participate. I asked the following question:
Alder Rhodes Conway took the time to notify people of the current committee openings and I appreciate her wading through the reports we get to make them useful. (See information below.) She sent the list out and got some feedback that there was no point serving on a committee because they felt like what they said didn’t matter. This makes me incredibly frustrated. We need good people to serve on these committees. Perhaps we should just start to consider that you serve for two or three years and you won’t get reappointed, but meantime, you make your voice heard!
If anyone has suggestions about what we can do to restore the faith in our current committee structure and resident input, I’m all ears! And thanks again to Satya for continuing to try to recruit people to our committees, we need your thoughts to help make the City a better place!
To which this was one answer:
Brenda, the way to restore the faith is to respect the process. The Mayor does not. It’s not something you can do. People voted him in, unaware that he would over-step his authority and become dictator. This town has the kind of expertise that few places have. But does that matter? No. He purges committees of anyone who disagrees with him, whether they are Alders or common citizens. He’s done that with Parks, with Equal Opportunity and now with Transportation. For the latest, the Council plans to rubber stamp him. You may have voted against his budget for example, but even Solomon and Rhodes-Conway [sic] voted to approve it (they did not even abstain).
And there was this response:
Elect a democratically-minded mayor?
Some other important responses to these emails:
I submitted an application for one of these committees listed many months ago. A position was open then and even again later on. Now it is open yet again — a third time.
However, I never heard a word about my application the first time other than that it was received. I certainly don’t feel inclined to resubmit an application each time an opening is announced particularly when I got no response the first time. I have plenty else to do.
Perhaps responses to requests for committee membership would be better received if a decision from the city one way or the other were issued to those who take the time to complete an application. I know for myself that since I got no response that I am not inclined to submit an application again.
I have a long history of community service in places where I’ve lived, but if people aren’t interested in what I have to offer, I can certainly find other things to do. I’m never short on things to do.
I wish the city the best in filling these positions. I think they are important which is why I applied the first time. Feel welcome to reactivate my original application.
Hi All – I have served . . . for about 8 years and I am very glad to have done so. I think I have about 2 more years on my term. Some eras are a lot of fun. Others it’s true require a lot of fortitude. But overall I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I want to encourage others to consider the possibility of serving. Peter Munoz, aid to mayor Sue Bauman, talked me into joining a commission by telling me it was where democracy happens. I have to say that especially now I feel it is important to have our communities’ voices represented and heard via the commissions. Our alders do their darndest to represent their constituents and the mayor looks at the city as a whole. I have found myself taking perspectives of both the city as a whole and also sharing the unique information from living in my own neighborhood when an issue arises that I know more about. I don’t assume that a mayor will always agree with a commission or me specifically. In fact I often assume the opposite which is why I think our commissions are so important. Our voices often get heard by the media and shared more broadly to enliven debate where it is needed. Framing the debates is part of what it takes to protect and enhance a city’s public policy and operations.
I urge you to consider serving. I’d be happy to talk with anyone further about this. It’s not been a bed of roses, but it’s been very meaningful. . .
And probably, the most interesting response to me, was this blog post by John Quinlan. It’s worth checking out.
My feelings are captured in this response to a question from the listserve about what the process is and why it isn’t transparent and if I felt that there was something wrong with what’s going on:
The Mayor decides, using whatever criteria he chooses. The “process”, if one is to call it that, is a bit of a mystery to many. I usually suggest people submit a resume with their application as the mayor tends to look at degrees and jobs held. I also suggest that the person get an alder to put their name on the application – but not me, because that will not help.
I do feel that there is a definite chill. The Mayor’s track record of tolerating those he does not like is not good – Alders Bruer (ALRC), Golden (not appointed to committees when he left, even tho I believe they were expected), Skidmore (Parks) and me (Plan commission) – were all tossed off committees where we disagreed with the mayor or as “punishment”. More recently, the mayor has not appointed people to Transit and Parking (Tim Wong), Urban Design Commission (Mike Barrett) and Equal Opportunities Commission (Michael Howe) and I may be missing others. And, of course, there was the blow up over the bus fares . . . and the threat to disband the Transit and Parking Commission. So yes, its feeling a little chilly these days.
It’s not just cold outside! Sadly, this doesn’t bode well for the future of our local government. As Alder Rhodes-Conway noted, “One of the things that makes our city government go is the dedicated citizens that serve on city committees and commissions.” So, I say, apply! Make noise! And consider it a short term commitment. Then help recruit someone to be your replacement. We can’t just give up and give in to this bullying and thereby give up on our city – it too important.
