I had no idea how City Council meetings worked. So, last year, I thought I would start watching meetings online so I could learn how the council legislated. The meetings are all on the city website, and streamed live. It has been quite eye an opening experience. This is some of what I learned.

If you, as a citizen of Jamestown, have a question for the council that you would like them to answer, you can attend a council meeting and ask your question. Each citizen gets five minutes to talk. It seems pretty intimidating. You come out of your house, write your questions down, get the nerve to come to the meeting, and ask your question to the council. They sit there, sitting higher than you, seated behind their desks staring down at you. The catch is, the council has no obligation whatsoever to answer you or even acknowledge you. You can ask a direct question, they look at you, and then they move on. Don’t expect an answer. They use Roberts Rules of Order to run the meeting. Those rules were written in 1876. The archaic “rules” give them cover from answering questions.

I have learned that the council barely has serious discussions about big issues at the work sessions or the voting sessions. At the work session, they will talk for maybe five minutes about a project that may cost half a million dollars. The next voting session occurs and they vote. Seemingly uninformed, other than a superficial understanding, they vote. Take the project on Third Street. The project concerning the replanting of new trees. They somehow added new lighting, new curbs, new sidewalks, and an added expense of $180,000 to put the BPU lines underground. At the work session for this half million dollar project, they might have spoken about seven minutes on the merits of the project. They had a two minute conversation about why isn’t the BPU paying the $180,000 to put their own lines underground. Why is the city paying for this? Great question! Someone promised they would call the BPU and look into it. To the best of my knowledge that phone call never happened. A week later they voted on the project with no word about the $180,000 or if anyone made that call. Councilperson Andrew Faulkner did vote “no” on the project and mentioned the $180,000 as one of his reasons for voting no. Good for him! Didn’t make a difference. It passed. Half a million dollars in taxpayer money. Last week, Tom Benson of the NCC came into the meeting, did a quick presentation about the new YMCA. He asked for $2 million dollars of the ARPA funds. The board asked two questions. Two. Will they get the $2 million based on the two questions? Stay tuned.

The only issue I watched them actually spend time debating was the insane amount of time they spent last year discussing one. single food truck a vendor wanted to park downtown. The debate went on for what seemed months. The food truck was a scandal for them! They were actually measuring the number of feet between the food truck and the front door of several restaurants downtown. In the end the food truck came downtown, and nothing the council wasted so much time on made a bit of difference The food truck was downtown last summer and there wasn’t a single issue that I know of. The vendor who owned the food truck also owned a business downtown. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but she closed that business recently and left downtown. Great job council. If only you spent this much effort on issues that actually made an impact in the lives of the people of Jamestown.

I learned the housing committee meets for 15 minutes alone before the work session meetings, so with major housing problems in the city, they meet 45 minutes a month. When the head of the Housing Committee gives her committee’s report to the council she couldn’t look or sound less interested. The city is currently spending $28 million in American Rescue funds. I am pushing for more of this money to be used on housing. I wrote the council a few weeks ago asking what the ten year plan for housing was in the city. No response. The alarming fact is I don’t believe there is any plan for housing. No wonder the housing problem has gotten so bad.

We do receive grants. Lots of them. Many for downtown. However, there aren’t too many for homeowners. There is one program just for landlords. This grant is not funded with American Rescue funds. Landlords can apply for up to $15,000 per unit they own. The criteria is not based on the landlord’s income, but on the tenant’s income. So you can have a millionaire, slum lord landlord who gets funding through this program for a couple of his apartments because there are people living under the national poverty level in his apartments. Doesn’t matter that it is his responsibility to maintain his properties and he collects rent. Meanwhile, there is not much for middle class homeowners, who are the backbone of taxpayers in the city. The tax burden has been on their shoulders for many years. Any program for homeowners is almost always based on income, leaving many homeowners left out. They plan on spending $7.5 million from ARPA funds on housing in the city. I don’t see $7.5 million in programs appearing.

I can offer some suggestions. The council must be more transparent. They cannot continue to discuss major legislation among themselves via phone calls, emails, and talking in the halls. They must bring this discussion into the public forum. The council seems very low energy during the meetings. There is no passion. They have little curiosity about almost anything. There seems to be a dynamic in the council room that everyone is lulled into some type of polite conversation, and you get the feeling they can’t wait to get out of there. I haven’t even heard the voices of a few of the members, other than their droning votes.

The council should be required to give town hall-type meetings several times a year. It should be an environment where members of the community can ask questions directly to Council Members and they should be required to answer questions. I asked the council to start a Facebook page for the public to discuss issues. They scoffed at that suggestion. The Jamestown Police Department has a fantastic Facebook page. They answer questions, and they are very smart — they use humor to relate to the public. It’s working, It’s very popular. The council insists they are all very good at returning calls and emails and there is no need for any public questioning. Well, I say phooey! I wrote an email to my councilperson on March 25. I asked her for a phone conversation. I am still waiting for that conversation. I’m in Ward Three. The council should enter the 21st century and use social media to communicate with the residents of Jamestown.

Perhaps it’s too much to ask nine people who live in the community to take on such a huge task as running the entire city government. In one sense they should be commended. They are not necessarily trained to do this in any way. It is a very daunting task, but vital. There are certainly some on the council who have outstayed their welcome. Some of the same people who helped create many of the problems are still there. We need new voices.

We deserve a more open council. We deserve to hear deliberations that are now held in clandestine phone calls and emails. However, we are required as city residents to get involved in our government. We are required to participate. It’s our collected obligation. The council can only run like this because you aren’t watching. Please get involved. Please pay attention. Please speak up. Or better yet, show up. If the public actually got involved in city government, it would make a huge difference. Let 200 residents of Jamestown show up for a council meeting to ask questions, and see what happens.

Tom Andolora is a Jamestown resident.