Presented at City Council December 14, 2010--double click to read easily

December 14, 2010

Good evening, Mayor Lindauer, Members of the Council, City Manager Hanifan, Ladies and Gentlemen:

My name is Jan Bernath and I live at 238 Harrison Street. I am speaking only for myself as a resident of Chelsea.

I believe that the Downtown Development Authority is crucial to developing the vitality of Chelsea's downtown and therefore is a very important government authority supported by tax dollars.

I come to you tonight because the DDA, as stated in Public Act 197, is under the supervision and control of the chief executive officer of the municipality. As a government authority, the ethical principle of accountability defined in Chelsea's City Charter applies. That principle states that government is conducted openly, efficiently, equitably and honorably in a manner that permits the citizenry to make informed judgments and to hold government officials accountable. It is signficant that he DDA has approximately a half a million dollars of discretionary money to spend annually as a government authority.

At the last report of the DDA to the Council, I was pleased to learn that an extensive planning process—including all stakeholders—will be undertaken in the near term and that six to twelve visioning sessions will be conducted, taped and shown on Channel 18. As I understand the process being planned, citizens will be able to have input and present ideas in planning for projects to be undertaken for five years out. This is an example of an open and transparent process in looking at the the possibilities for revitalizaing our downtown.

However, several times in the past year and a half, I have asked two things of the DDA to encourage participation by citizens in the important work of the DDA.
1. move the meetings from 7:30 a.m. to a time that is more convenient for the public to attend,
2.tape the meetings to be shown on channel 18 as are City Council and Planning Commission meetings.

I was told that holding the meetings in the evenings would be inconvenient for DDA members. At the last Council meeting, you were told that the room in which the DDA meets is not conducive to taping and cost is a negative factor. DDA representatives suggested that the DDA be taped when the new board room is in place—a date in the future yet unknown at this time. However, the Planning Commission's recent meeting held in the same room as the DDA meets was successfully taped and aired on Channel 18.

I believe that we are entering an especially critical period of activity for the DDA. It would be an appropriate time to begin meeting later in the day for public accessibility as well as tape the meetings for public viewing.

While cost was cited as a reason for not taping now, the DDA is a government authority that has considerable funding at its disposal, In the interest of keeping the public informed and engaged, the expenditure of approximately $2,750 annually for taping and airing meetings would be well spent (at the current provider rates). This is less than half of a percentage of the total budget of approximately $500,000 of discretionary money available to the DDA.

I respectfully request that the Mayor and Council recommend to the DDA that they move the regular meeting to a more convenenet time for public accessibility and/or, at minimum, tape and air the meetings on channel 18 beginning January 2011.

Thank you for considering this request.