City should let residents speak at more types of meetings

On March 18, a formal request by the Legislative District 13 Local Government Committee for the right of Chandler residents to speak at public meetings, such as work sessions, study sessions, committee and subcommittee meetings was submitted to the City Clerk at a council meeting to the mayor and Chandler City Council.

This would, of course, be in addition to the protocol of 3 minutes residents get to speak at City Council meetings.

Chandler is an innovator, not a follower. The city should honor its residents’ right to assure that the mayor, council and staff are all fully informed before decisions are made and votes are decided.

The details in the 15 page request to speak — including exhibits — that we submitted at the March 18 City Council meeting on behalf of the residents, has resulted in several informal discussions with each of the Council Members, but no final decision by the Mayor and Council after 8 weeks, but we do expect a decision and Council vote.

In the recent City Council candidate debate held by the Chandler Chamber of Commerce, it was good to hear that most of the seven candidates running for the three open seats on the City Council (in the upcoming July 30 election) responded that they would want to hear from the Chandler residents about issues that impact Chandler residents and their families.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this topic.  Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.