By MIKE COURON
Great Bend Post
No more blind sides. Alan Moeder officially took over as Great Bend mayor during the Jan. 5 city council meeting. During Monday's meeting, he updated the council on how he will run meetings during his tenure. In recent meetings, council members have had the opportunity to speak about any issue during the councilmember report portion of the meeting. Moeder said no more.
"This next part is going to get a little tricky, you guys, and you need to understand where we're going with this," Moeder said. "Councilmember reports are going to change from what's been in the past. They will be reports on the boards and commissions they serve on, and that's it."
Councilmember Gary Parr asked if that meant councilmembers would no longer be able to speak freely during the meetings. Moeder reiterated that if a councilmember is not on a board or a committee, or the item is not on the agenda, the council will not be allowed to speak.
"You have to get it on the agenda, and you have to have facts so the rest of the commission knows what you're talking about, so they're not not jumped and surprised," Moeder said.
"I don't think that's right," said Parr. "I think we ought to be able to speak freely. If the citizens and the taxpayers have an issue that they want one of us, their representatives, to bring forward, we ought to be able to to freely bring that forward."
Moeder affirmed he is running the meeting, and any councilmember wanting to overrule the decision could seek advice from City Attorney Allen Glendenning.
"If someone has come to with you with something during the time since our last meeting, then the thing to do is get with (City Administrator Logan Burns), or try to share it or find answers," said Councilmember Rickee Maddox. "But when you bring it to the council, I assume you've already tried your best to find the answer. That's what we've done in the past. I've been confronted with something during the week, then I tried to get an answer, but I don't necessarily need to bring to the entire council."
"I appreciate that, but I bring the question here to get answers from us to the people, is why the questions are brought," Parr answered.
"The people can come to this meeting and be part of the meeting," Moeder said. "If they care enough about the city council, then they come come."
Councilmember Davis Jimenez said it is the role of the council to represent the public. Moeder agreed but noted meeting agendas are published well in advance of meetings, so there are plenty of opportunities for citizens to ask questions.
Parr asked Moeder if Monday's decision was part of a new meeting bylaw. Moeder pointed to the printed agenda and said it states the councilmember reports are for members serving on boards or committees, and that the previous mayor got away from that practice but that he will not.
Later in the meeting, the council voted 8-0 to approve a code of procedure for meetings. Glendenning explained why timing is important when adding items to the agenda.
"(City Clerk Shawna Schafer) tries to get that agenda out so the public can have it, and so all of you can have it well in advance of the meetings," he said. "So the deadline is usually Tuesday at noon the week before the meeting that you would need to get that agenda item on, not come in Monday morning and say, 'Add this to the agenda.' But that said, you can add things to the agenda by vote of the council at the meeting if you want to. I would urge you to exercise some caution doing that because there's a transparency problem when stuff just comes up out of the blue, and the public has been told here's what we're going to talk about, and then we end up talking about something else, making motions, and acting on things that were never on the agenda and nobody saw coming."
Great Bend City Council meetings are held on the first and third Monday of each month. Another 8-0 vote Monday changed the meeting time from 6:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Burns also announced that public comments will again be allowed on the city's live Facebook feed of the meetings, but they could be removed if harassing or vulgar comments are made.