In light of last night’s city council meeting that extended until 12:15am, it bears reposting Nick Giurleo’s post from a couple weeks back. The city needs real changes in which it does business.

The following is a repost from Nick’s facebook account.

Many residents have become distrustful of the Council and do not feel heard. From reducing public speaking time to very late running meetings and last-minute agenda changes, there are good reasons for this. Here are 6 solutions Nick proposes to improve transparency between the Council and members of the public:

1. Increase Public Speaking Time: Under the current Council, public speaking time was reduced last year to only 3 minutes per speaker. When Nick is elected, the very first resolution he will propose will be to increase public speaking time to 5 minutes per speaker. Residents should not feel rushed at the podium and deserve an adequate amount of time to express their thoughts.

2. Reduce Councilor Speaking Time: Councilors often deliver lengthy, verbose speeches that flatter, grandstand, and do not get to the point. This causes Council meetings to drag on at length before public comment is opened, often discouraging residents from staying and voicing what they have to say. Nick supports limiting their remarks to no more than 10 minutes per paper and calling on the Council President to strictly enforce this limit. The less councilors are speaking, and the more members of the public are, the better.

3. No More Late Running Meetings: Members of the public have to work, attend school, and commit to other obligations the day after meetings and cannot wait all night to speak for a few minutes on an item. Nick supports a hard cap of 11 PM for all meetings (subject to rules suspension). Any outstanding agenda items are automatically tabled to the next meeting or a special meeting. When elected, Nick will move to table papers on significant community issues that do not get to public comment before 10 PM.

4. No More Last Minute Agenda Changes: Nick supports requiring the Council agenda to be finalized no later than the morning of the day of a meeting. Members of the public should have adequate notice of agenda items so they can come to meetings prepared to voice their thoughts on them. When elected, Nick will call out efforts to “sneak in” papers to the agenda the public was not given sufficient advanced notice of, such as hours before the start of a meeting.

5. Direct Responses to Public Comments: Councilors serving on the current Council too often totally ignore public comments because they are in opposition to their preexisting beliefs. Nick will directly respond to public comments, including by answering questions asked for the record, affirming that concerns that should be investigated will be investigated, and following up at subsequent public meetings on the results of investigations. Nick will call out councilors who do not adhere to their democratic duty to address what the public has to say.

6. Compliance with Massachusetts Public Records Law: Members of the public have a right under the Massachusetts Public Records Law to request public records from the Council. Nick will ensure the Council complies in good faith with the law and responds fully to all lawful requests for public records. He will ensure members of the public who feel records requests have not been fully and adequately responded to have an opportunity to be heard before having to seek legal recourse with the courts.

You can find his facebook page – Nick Giurleo for Medford City Council

Link – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61575246882228