Thoughts on tonights ciity council meetings

[Berwyn Patsy]

Tonights council meeting was very interesting!  If you have never attended a meeting, you should.
They do show us how our city works.  I am sure all the details will be published in our Berwyn newspaper.
I was somewhat surprised at the many outbursts our newly elected township trustee displayed before and after the meeting!!
she was not professional at all, and actually was quite offensive with her very vulgar language in public.  I was embarrassed
for her, and I hope she will learn to present  herself  in a more mature manner in her new elected position.

[hvychev]

Who might you be speaking of?

[Bear]

I think the person being refered to is Aimee Sordillo,
she was quite vocal with her displeasure with the democratic party

[markberwyn]

The same Aimee who posted on the old board? Big on seniors?

[T-Stan RPCV]

The meeting was interesting, not exciting, but interesting.

This was only the 2nd meeting I've attended, so it's all new to me.  One thing that strikes me is how little information is available to the public on the issues being discussed and the little bit of info. that can be gained by listening is garbled in the mumblings of the council (esspecially the mayor).  Then, after the meeting, everyone is eager to express their displeasure but know one has any basic understanding of what actually took place.  

For those who were not there, two issues seemed to capture the most attention.  A parking exemption for a Cermak establishment and money doled out to retiring civil servents.  When I asked for clarification from other attendees after the meeting I got a different story from everyone.  Funny, they all seemed rather confident that their interpretations were correct.  One felt the civil servents were getting a buyout the next indicated it was buying back vacation days....among others.  The parking issue ranged from the establishment asking for a parking garage/lot exemption, to a request to open up a nearby residential street for non residental late night parking.  These are a couple of many examples.  I was guilty too, expressing my opinion of what I thought they might have been talking about.

An analogy would be a group of people watching a 3 minute movie trailer then trying to debate the movie plot.   I suppose we need to do more homework than just go to these meetings to understand what's going on with govt.

I'm not going to post names, but our newly elected trustee would do well to bite her tongue.  I didnt hear anything before the meeting but the volume of her voice and word choice after reflected poorly on herself and our community (considering we elected her).

[java]

I missed Tuesday's meeting, but agree with T-Stan's general assessment of the meeting - the inability to get the whole story of what is going on.  A couple of suggestions, which have been expressed by others include:

1.  Why can't the 'Meeting of the Whole' be held in the courtroom, so people don't have to crowd into that small conference room? If there is confidental legal discussion, that could be held in closed doors.  But the way its set up now, the public misses all the real debate and discussion of a topic and is left to watch the Clerk/Aldermen breeze through the agenda.

2.  The use of the microphones needs to be reinforced/encouraged/required so the audience can hear.

3.  The open forum portion of the meeting (where what's on the agenda CAN'T be brought up) is dysfunctional.  What's on the agenda is why people are there.  Its the current stuff people want to voice their concerns on.  If not at the actual council meeting, I suggest regular town halls where the voices can be heard.

[OakParkSpartan]

I suspect some changes will occur May 10.  I certainly expect the most symbolic to be the council facing the audience, rather than turning their backs on their constituents. 

I personally think that the reason there is so much mumbling and skipping of the public portion of the meeting is the current bunch of crooks doesn't want people to know what they are up to.

Cheers,
Brian