So, yesterday when I posted the 9 point formula for non-viting the public to a government meeting, I did feel like it should have been 10, but all I could think of was to not take minutes or keep records of what happened at the meeting. But Alder Schumacher, surprised me, and did much, much better!
Remember that meeting that was noticed as a possible quorum of the Common Council and the Alcohol License Review Board as follows:
| 5/21/2009 01:00 PM |
POSSIBLE QUORUM OF THE COMMON COUNCIL & ALCOHOL LICENSE REVIEW COMMITTEE MEETING RELATIVE TO ORDINANCE #14171 |  Agenda
|
If you click on the agenda, you get this:
Ald. Michael Schumacher, District 18, is holding a public meeting to identify how the alcohol industry will specifically work with the city and the community in implementing the proposed ordinance amendment banning the sale of certain beer and wine volumes. The purpose for the public meeting is to share what the group has learned to date and continue the dialogue to formulate a framework for future actions to address alcohol abuse in various segments of the Madison community.
A possible quorum of the Common Council and ALRC exists at this meeting.For more information feel free to contact Ald. Michael Schumacher at 242-1779 or
district18@cityofmadison.comThe ordinance is attached to this agenda and may also be accessed at:
http://legistar.cityofmadison.com/detailreport/?key=15876
Well, I had heard a rumor that I wanted to check out, so I decided to show up to the meeting to check it out. When I went up the elevator and met the receptionist at the front desk, she didn’t know what meeting I was there for. However, I ran into Matt Veldran and he told the receptionist what I was talking about and they pointed to to the hallway and said to go in those “closed doors” on the left. Well, I started to walk through the cube farm and it was confusing as there were several doors on the left, I got to the end and was kind of looking around and someone had to point me in the right direction. No sign on the door, no indication that it was a public meeting, just a closed door.
When I got in, I sat down at an empty table, there were about 40 people there. Including Alders Schumacher, Bidar–Sielaff, Compton and Clausius and a uniformed police officer. The room had 17 pieces of flip chart paper with lots of notes and about 40 people in the room that had just gotten done eating a catered in lunch. And, on the table, there was this agenda:
ALRC Coalition Meeting
5/21/099:00 Welcome and Introductions
- Review meeting ground rules
9:25 Update/Overview: Michael & Bill
9:35 Establish Problem Solving Groups
- Create representative groups
- Select group facilitator and recorder
- Discuss first talking point
- Report out conclusions/initial plan
10:15 Break
10:25 Discuss Second Talking Point
- Select new group facilitator and recorder
- Report out conclusions/initial plan
11:10 Discuss Third Talking Point
- Report out conclusions/initial plan
11:55 Break for Working Lunch
- Summary & conclusions
- Identify next steps and individual responsibilities
1:00 Welcome Public
2:00 Adjourn
Organizational Skills Association, LLC 608-238-7114 www.orgskills.com
Notice anything funny about that meeting that was starting at 1:00?
I was the only “public” that attended, they gave me a round of applause after Schumacher introduced “former Alder Konkel” with a new profession of “on-line journalism”. They offered me lunch, to which I replied, I guess I could take it now but no thanks, and Shiva made sure to point out that she paid her $5 for the lunch. They asked me if I had anything I wanted to say, but obviously, I didn’t, because I had no idea what was going on having just arrived and not knowing what they were even talking about at the moment having clearly missed the main event.
After my interruption, they returned to the exercise they were doing. They were going around the room and they were supposed to talk about how they “feel” about the process and where they are. The facilitator made sure to call it a “check-in”, but it was clear that it was a “check-out” and that the meeting was over. I listened to about 4 or 5 people talk about the “two meetings”, the “outcomes of today”. Several people thanked the alders for coming and complimented them on making government accessible. Kristin from the Cap Times also showed up, was introduced by Schumacher likely to warn folks that the real media was now there. I had seen enough. Bill White then brought me the “talking points” that were referred to in the agenda.
DRAFT TALKING POINTS
FOR 5/21/09
ALRC COALITION MEETING1. Preparation of No Serve List under Wisconsin Statute Sec 125.12(2)(ag)3.
- Establishment of criteria for placement on the List
- Ability to communicate between retail locations
- The ability to voluntarily place oneself on the No Serve List
- How police interact with individuals on the List
2. Establishment of good practices. This would be based on Respect 21 Program
- Screening for known habitual drunkards
- Establishment of Training Programs for Class A licensees
- Maintaining statistics on individuals who are refused service
- Creation of “secret shopper” and compliance officer programs
- Carding all purchasers
3. Ongoing communications and policy formulation
- Possible establishment of ongoing Alcohol Beverage Advisory Board where key segments of the regulatory community and alcohol industry are present.
- Initial gathering to insure adequate identification of all collateral issues to include industry representatives, police, public health, mental health and related segments
- Enforcement of public intoxication ordinances
- Scram bracelets which can measure alcohol content
- Medical treatment for chronic alcohol abuse
- Develop mechanisms for effective continued communication with all interested parties
I’d had enough after about 20 – 25 minutes and left as it appeared it would take the rest of the time to get around the room with people talking about how they “feel”.
As I was walking away, I thought maybe I should look up the lobbying reports for the folks in that room . . . but there are so many loopholes, I doubt many of them have to report this activity. Here’s the registered lobbyists I found on a quick review:
Steve Foti, Wine Institute
Phil Reynolds, General Beer Distributors
Ron Rotter, Frank Beverages
Ron Trachtenberg, Kelly Williamson Co (I didn’t see him, but his cohort Rick Petri was there and the link on his report doesn’t work)
Casey Trudgeon, WDI, LLC
Mike Wittenwyler, Wisconsin Wine and Spirit Institute
Clearly that was far fewer people than were in the room, but I’m guessing they were all getting paid to be there and lobby the alders there. What wasn’t clear was if they meet the requirements in the ordinance to have to file without knowing more. And I wonder who’s lobbying report the costs of lunch and the professional facilitator will show up on?
The other thing that wasn’t clear was how the alders knew to be there at 9 am? Was it special invite only? If it wasn’t, shouldn’t the notice of possible quorum have been noticed at 9:00. And, if alders and the ALRC members had shown up at 1:00, with or without the public, what would they have learned or discussed?
I have to say, I knew to expect something that wasn’t going to quite be open government or transparent, but it was much worse than I expected. I can’t wait to see how this whole thing gets presented to the Common Council.
