Here is an editorial I submitted to the Sentinel today. It is unlikely that it can go into this weeks Sentinel due to deadline submission which was Wednesday at noon. In any case here is the editorial I submitted. Id be interested in knowing if there are any other persons who have a degree in planning or have received training in facilitation. EDITORIAL OCTOBER 16, 2014 Workshop or Presentation with Public Comment? I attended the ‘workshop’ held by the City on Tuesday October 14th as I was very interested in participating in the discussion of the Draft August 31, 2014 Comprehensive Plan developed by the firm contracted to develop the plan (i.e., Comprehensive Planning). From my perspective there are many problems with the draft but those aside I want to speak to the method used by our City Commission in the ‘Workshop’. The definition I found for ‘workshop’ is: “a meeting at which a group of people engage in intensive discussion and activity on a particular subject or project.” I have attended a dozen or so ‘workshops’ in Truth or Consequences. I believe the City Commission should either change the name of such meetings from ‘Workshop on …’ to “Presentations & Public Input on …’ or keep the title ‘Workshop on …’ and actually conduct these meetings like a ‘workshop’ is intended to be conducted. That is, having the meeting on a topic and actually having intense discussion on that topic by all in attendance. There were three workshops topics discussed during Tuesday’s two hour ‘workshop’. The first ‘workshop’ was on the Comprehensive Plan which began with a 45 minute presentation by the Contractor. The Mayor then asked for questions from the Commissioners only one of them had questions and rather than verbalizing her comments presented them in writing. The Mayor then asked for members of the public for their comments. Verbal comments were provided by all five residents attending and two of us also provided written comments. Importantly, only after comments from the commissioners and residents were presented, was the City’s Community Development Director and Contractor were asked to reply to the comments. While they addressed a few of the comments, there was no real back and forth discussion between those presenting comments and the Contractor. Moreover, the vast majority of comments presented were not addressed by the Contractor. In the future I would love to see the City having a true ‘workshop’ where a facilitator leads discussion, serves as a scribe noting key points on a board, and ensures that comments are on target with the topic being discussed and that discussion is held in a manner that yields productive doable outcomes. In such a workshop all those present have equal standing. I think it’s time we change the way the City conducts ‘Workshops.’ P.S. Where was everybody? The Comprehensive Plan is to guide the City’s development for the next 20 years! Audon Trujillo, Jr. 506 W Street audont@yahoo
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:49:39 +0000
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