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02/28/2007: "Council To Address Their Public Image"

( County Council in second day of a Council work session "Retreat")

The County Council will rewrite the rules that govern how, and when, the public can come in and address the Council, and they will also begin to hold at least one meeting a month on one of the other major islands.

Councilman Alan Lichter suggested to the Council that in addition to the current "public access" agenda item that appears at the beginning of each council meeting, there should an opportunity for the public to come in after work and address the council. The Council has agreed that once a month they will continue their meeting past 5 p.m. This prompted Councilman Bob Myhr to once again ask that the Council also agree to hold some meetings on the other major islands.

For sometime now the council has agreed to hold some meetings on at least Lopez and Orcas, but it now appears that there will be a formal policy to do just that. This will also fit nicely with Lichter's suggestion of once a month extending the council quitting time from 4 p.m. to past 5 p.m. to allow greater citizen access.



This all came about during the recent two day Council retreat. If you can think of it, the County Council covered it in their two day "retreat". Just about everything having to do with San Juan County was identified, discussed and labeled for future discussion, or put on an action list.

One subject that came up for action "right now", was the relationship between the Council and the public. A subject Councilman Rich Peterson said needed to be addressed, and needed to be addressed soon. On the first day of the retreat, Peterson had expressed his concerns on how county government is perceived by the public. On the last day when it came time for each Councilman to list his three top priorities, Peterson listed "government reputation" as number one. He suggested the Council needed to be more open with the public, and noted that the use of honest and accurate data when the Council makes decisions helps to reduce the number of lawsuits that are brought against the County.

As the Council worked to create an Action List (which was defined as a list of things that the Council could do "right now"), the topic was again raised by Peterson, and County Administrator Pete Rose suggested the Council adopt a set of customer service policies to guide county employees interaction with the public.

Councilman Lichter stated "I think we need to do something immediately about how people perceive the Council". This led to a discussion about the need for a broad public relations program that would not "spin" information, but simply make sure information was honest, accurate; and not only available, but presented, to the public and the press. Councilman Gene Knapp reminded the Council that at the recent statewide meeting for county elected officials and staff, they were told that a staff member dedicated to public information was essential.

Lichter then suggested that once a month the Council continue their meeting past 5 p.m. so that anyone in the community can come after they get off work and address the Council during a "Public Access" period. It was also agreed that the rules that govern public access be revised to allow interaction between the Councilmember's and the public. The current rules do not allow the council members to respond to the public. Under the revise rules some give-and-take will be allowed