Citizen Activist, Paul Donovan Photo Credit:P. Donovan
Last Wednesday evening an overflow crowd came to Everett City Hall to express their anger and disappointment at the recent city council decision to move all but one of their weekly public meetings to morning hours. However before the first citizen took to the podium to address the council; two of the council members who had voted just 2 weeks earlier to move away from evening meetings launched into their own rather lengthy mea culpas; with one requesting that the city attorney draft an ordinance that would effectively reverse their previous vote and move the meetings to 3 evenings and one morning. The proposed ordinance would then be placed on the council agenda for public comment over the next 3 weeks with a final vote of the council slated for Wednesday, February 17. Not all of the citizens were satisfied with that resolution. In fact, a citizens group is forging ahead with a petition drive to require the city council to either pass an ordinance moving all meetings to the evening hours or, if they fail to do so, have the ordinance placed on the general election ballot for the citizens to approve.
The reaction to the January 6th vote was swift and loud with citizen activists form various organizations mobilizing their membership into phone calling and emailing campaigns, a petition drive, and a commitment to participate in the best attended city council meeting in recent memory; all designed to voice their anger with the council members who had voted to seemingly restrict their access to council meetings. The almost immediate result was the above mentioned response by city council members Shannon Affholter and Jeff Moore who had originally voted with the majority to eliminate all but one evening meeting (a minimum of one evening meeting per month is required in the city charter). In their remarks, both Affholter and Moore; the two most junior members of the council, said that they still supported at least one morning meeting to accommodate swing-shift workers, seniors and the disabled, and business owners who might not live in the city.
Of the groups and individuals who made the call to action, perhaps no one took charge as effectively and forcefully as Paul Donovan. Donovan, chairman of the recently formed "Citizens for Better Government" is at the heart of the petition drive to require virtually all city council meetings to be held during evening hours. It reads:
We, the undersigned registered voters of the City of Everett, State of Washington, residing at the addresses set forth opposite our respective names, respectfully petition, pursuant to ARTICLE XI, Section 11.2, of the City of Everett Charter, and RCW 35.21.005, that the following ordinance be enacted by the City Council or, if not so enacted, be submitted to a vote of the residents of the City.
ORDINANCE
The regular weekly meeting of the City Council shall he held after 6:30 PM; provided, however, that this shall not prohibit the occasional rescheduling of such a meeting to another time for cause.
Donovan, who is also serving as the chair of the Northwest Neighborhood Association, attached copies of the petition to emails in which he outlined some of the rationale behind the call for evening meetings.
a.) None of the top 25 largest Cities in Washington ever have City Council meetings during the day. (except Seattle their City Council people are full time employees)
b.) Having one day meeting allotted to less important issues makes it just too easy to play internal games / politics about slipping important items to the one day meeting (in short, who’s going to decide what issues are not important?)c.) Day meetings still create an unnecessary hardship for people that work during the day (most of us) to attend day meeting.
d.) They’re making it difficult if not impossible for potential City Council candidates that work days to attend this one weekday meeting thus you’re discouraging potential City Council candidates from running foroffice.
e.) Not one citizen has stepped forward asking the City Council for day meetings!
On Thursday, January 22nd (the day after the apparent capitulation of the city council), the Everett Herald ran an editorial calling on Donovan and his group to set aside their call for a citizens initiative "for now" pending the outcome of the vote on the new compromise ordinance. Rejecting this suggestion, Donovan sent out a new email to supporters explaining why the call for all evening meetings is still preferred and why the timing could have a financial impact on their efforts. He writes:
"...This morning, a Herald editorial suggested that the citizen’s initiative to require Everett City Council meetings be held in the evening should be set aside “for now.” This misses a huge point: doing so could cost the citizens $150,000 or more, and acting now will not cost us a penny.
Here’s why: the City Council has just instructed the City to move forward on an emergency medical services levy lift, to be considered in an election on April 27, 2010. If the petitions are submitted soon, the night meeting question must be submitted to the voters in the same election at no cost to the taxpayers. However, if the petitions are submitted later with sufficient signatures, the Charter calls for an immediate election, which will cost the city $150,000 or more..."
As of this writing, the signature gathering continues with estimates suggesting that there are still some 800 or more signatures to go to reach the goal of 1000 by February 1st. For more information or if you are an Everett resident and would like to sign the petition, you can reach Paul Donovan at:
Paul Donovan
1431 Hoyt Ave.
Everett WA 98201
425-319-9111
pauld@construx.com
Knowing that many would be asking if this effort is simply a political launching pad for some future political ambition, I put that very question to Mr. Donovan. His response:
"Running for office is NOT my driving ambition. Helping to improve Everett City government and most importantly the perception of Everett City government and how decisions are made is VERY important to me."
Peace,
Chad Shue
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