Community Participation Will Make Conversations Successful

The recent Times editorial regarding the Community Conversation
calling for additional meetings is a good idea. Creating additional
opportunities to interact with the community serves us well, but is
not the only mechanism the city will be using in this process.
The recent Times editorial regarding the Community Conversation calling for additional meetings is a good idea. Creating additional opportunities to interact with the community serves us well, but is not the only mechanism the city will be using in this process.

Council members, commissioners, staff and others will also be hosting individual community meetings in sharing and gathering information.

The City will conduct one perhaps two city wide scientifically-based surveys, and will provide Web site and other contact information for the residents to share their thoughts, ideas and perhaps solutions regarding our budget deficit.

In addition, there will be public council hearings, outside of the major and individual meetings for still others to participate. I personally will be hosting morning coffee in the downtown, visiting parent groups and others to engage residents. This process may culminate with a vote in the general election in November of 2006 where everyone will have a final say. The Community Conversation is seven major meetings and so much more. 

Community Conversation is a much larger, richer process, to engage as many of our residents as we can and have them participate in any way that is convenient, comfortable and much more revealing.

This may culminate in a vote but it is hoped that the vote if necessary will be a defined and informed vote, where the voter fully understands the situation, has participated in selecting the choices, and understands the ramifications and the outcomes.

The Community Conversation represents an extraordinary opportunity for all of us in Morgan Hill.

Are seven major meetings sufficient? I believe they are, since there are other planned efforts to engage the public in addition to the seven. There will be other meetings but less formal.

The actual number of meetings that will be held in addition to the seven is unknown as they haven’t been scheduled.

Our goal is to have 50 but there may be less and there may be more. Individual homes are not on any itinerary that I am aware of and are only considered as an option.

The meetings can be held anywhere at any time at the convenience of the hosting group, and if your organization would like to host a meeting, please contact our city staff and we’ll make every effort to accommodate so that you can do your part in the Community Conversation. 

The Morgan Hill Times would like the public to be invited to all 50 meetings but that may be not possible. Should I be invited to address the Rotary or the Kiwanis Club as a speaker, I do not have the authority to invite others unless the clubs want to do that themselves.

The Morgan Hill Times is a crucial partner in this process. Unlike any other, it serves as a vital link through the printed media to engage the public in a manner unique to local government, so unique is this process that it has caught the attention of others in the state. So I would ask the Times to help us, help us to best inform the public, share with them the present dilemma, and identify possible solutions, to report accurately and provide informed opinions.

A recent editorial indicating that the community is being “locked out” portrays the process not as intended and incorrect when you look at all the opportunities that the city will provide.

To say the plan is “foolish” in an editorial on the opinion page without addressing the entire plan also detracts from the process and misinforms the public. Journalism is at its best when it reports accurately and without bias. And when media joins local government in solving community issues we serve the public in the best way possible. 

My advocacy for the Community Conversation is to outreach to the public in a manner that never been done before in addressing a very serious budget problem. I personally have nothing to gain but the community certainly has, as it deliberates amongst a number of choices that will in fact shape Morgan Hill for years to come. These are difficult times calling out for each of us to make a difficult decision.

My hopes are that all of our residents will participate in this process in one way or another and that they will take the opportunity to thoughtfully review the information, ask questions, attend meetings, and carefully weigh the outcomes in deciding what we should do.

Help us define our values in charting a path to our future, and together we will make a better, safe and secure Morgan Hill. I know this community and I know each of you will do their part. This is Morgan Hill and it is who we are. We are defined by this process and its outcome.

Editor’s Note: Subscribers can read news articles, editorials and opinion columns about this issue at our Web site, www.morganhilltimes.com, by searching for Community Conversations.