A Breath of Fresh Air

From the KC Times:

Council to change public comment

Sunday, 07 December 2008
By HANNAH CLARKIN
'hclarkin@ricentral.com



COVENTRY — At its first meeting since being sworn in, the new Coventry Town Council plans to make good on its commitment to be open and transparent to the public, according to President Kenneth Cloutier (R-Dist. 5).
On Monday, the council will hold a question and answer session with the new town solicitor, Pat Rodgers of the Providence firm, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge, Cloutier said.
He will also be adding a new part to the agenda called “president’s remarks,” Cloutier said. This section will serve whatever purpose is needed on a given week.
“I want to be able to discuss things that are going on in town that aren’t always on the agenda,” he said. “Each meeting, I’ll touch on some different subjects and give folks updates on what’s going on. If there is something of concern, I’ll allow folks to e-mail or call me.”
Vice President Raymond Spear (R-Dist. 1), just elected to the council, was particularly vocal about increasing public access to meetings.

“My desire is to provide an opportunity of public comment during discussion of items, instead of people getting up and speaking before the council speaks not knowing what the council is going to say,” Spear said.
While there are no big resolutions on the agenda for Monday night, in the future, the public can expect a chance to comment before the council takes a vote, Cloutier said.
“Mr. Spear’s point was well taken,” he said. “In the past, there were times when the council would discuss a resolution and pass it and the public wasn’t allowed to comment on it at that time. They were allowed to speak at the public comment section but were not always aware of what the council would say. In the future, what you’ll see is that the public will have an ability to have comment right before we pass a resolution.”
While they do not plan to discuss it at the meeting, Mike Baird’s appointment to the planning commission is under review by the new solicitor, Cloutier said.
“We asked our attorney to give the council the options that we do have,” he said. A proposed condominium development called Redbrook Landing off of the New London Turnpike will not be discussed at this meeting, Cloutier said, because the new council is not entirely aware of all the issues involved.
“I discussed it with [acting Town Manager] Paul Sprague and we’re going to put it off until January,” he said.