When the Marshall County Council decided to hold the monthly meetings in the morning, they excluded most of working public from attending the meetings.  Now that they have decided to not allow questions or comments until AFTER they have voted, they effectively silenced the public and made it impossible to proactively participate in our local government.

Council President Matt Hassel explained the new public comment policy by explaining that the council meetings are business meeting and that there is an agenda to be followed and kept to.  This answer demonstrates the self-serving nature of this council.  A similar answer was given months ago when he was asked why he voted to have the meetings in the morning.  Back then he claimed that it was easier for the council members and department heads to conduct the meetings in the morning as opposed to the evening.

In both cases public participation has been diminished to suit the needs of the council and department heads.  THEY ARE ELECTED OFFICIALS. Their jobs are to SERVE THE PUBLIC.  The council is clearly not interested in public input, nor is it interested in having the public attend the meetings.

This begs the question:  How can the members of the council represent us if they do not want public input and exclude the majority us from attending the meetings?

The honest answer is that they can’t represent us when they so clearly do not want to hear from us…

For more information, check out the link below:
WTCA -Ripley Comments on Council Decision