by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
By general consensus, the Sartell City Council agreed at its April 27 meeting to start future council meetings at 6 p.m. rather than 7 p.m. in order to discuss issues that often are hashed through in special meetings.
For months, the council would hold special meetings, often starting at 6 p.m. or earlier, in a small conference room at Sartell City Hall rather than in the main council chambers. Some objected to that practice, saying it did not foster transparency to the public. The conference-room meetings were publicized in advance, and they were open to the public.
However, after some discussion, city staff and council members decided it would be best to have the special-meeting agenda items included into the regular council meetings, and that would likely require extra time – thus the 6 p.m. start time. The regular meetings are televised live and on the city’s website the next day.
The council, however, agreed some special meetings should still be held, such as long interviews to choose among applicants for city projects, such as architects. The council could announce those open meetings and vote whether or not to televise them, to be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The city-council meetings in St. Joseph, Sauk Rapids and St. Cloud all start at 6 p.m. The Waite Park one starts at 6:30 p.m.
Council member Pat Lynch said all special meetings have always been open to the public and it’s unfortunate if there is a public perception the council is doing anything “underhanded” in those meetings, because that is not the cased, he added.
“Let’s bring it all onto television,” Lynch said.
Council member David Peterson said he always found the council’s Committee of the Whole meetings useful and he would like to see more of them. No voting on issues occurred in COW meetings, he noted – just informal discussions.
