Photo Illustration by Kathy De La Torre
What does the appropriately dressed Saratoga planning commissioner wear to meetings? Some fear that if meetings continue to go on and on--the most recent one lasted seven hours--jammies might be in order.
Commissioners deliberate lengthy debates
Planners try to solve problem of late meetings
By Kara Chalmers
It may not be astonishing for a Saratoga Planning Commission meeting to end after midnight, especially if there are many items on the agenda. In fact, the commission's May 24 meeting adjourned at 11:55 p.m.
But its June 14 meeting lasted a full seven hours, and, ironically, long meetings were part of the reason. The commission scheduled a 5 p.m. study session partly to discuss meeting protocol.
Commission chairman Chuck Page, who was newly elected in May, had asked his fellow commissioners on May 24, if they would provide guidelines to help him run meetings more smoothly, and set agreed-upon protocol.
Commissioners responded in writing and community development director James Walgren summarized the commissioners' answers in a staff report. The commissioners spent about an hour on June 14, discussing meeting formality and even whether to call each other by first names, rather than "commissioner." But the length of deliberations and whether there is a need for commissioners to go through round after round of them crept into the discussion. The commission finished its discussion of meeting protocol just in time for the regular meeting at 7:30 p.m..
At their March 10th retreat, commissioners talked about how to improve communications with each other and working relationships. With the help of a facilitator, they decided on a deliberation and decision process to follow in meetings. They also discussed different styles of communication and the general relationship between the city council and the commission. The commission decided to continue the retreat topic, and later set the date for June 14.
At the end of the study session on June 14, the commissioners again decided to continue the discussion on meeting procedures to a later date, but no date has yet been set, Walgren said.
The commission did arrive at some conclusions during the June 14 study session.
Commissioners discussed the importance of complying with the rules that govern their meetings, which are public. Commissioner Mary-Lynne Bernald said that some commissioners tend to single out other commissioners and try to persuade them of their view.
"Many times, it sounds to me as if someone has turned to me and said, 'you don't understand this,'" Bernald said. She suggested that commissioners work on making their findings clear on specific projects rather than trying to win over other commissioners to their point of view.
To that, commissioner Lisa Kurasch said, "The point is to make your findings based on that exchange of ideas." She said that she feels it is important for commissioners to hear each other's ideas before making up their minds.
Based on a suggestion from commissioner George Roupe, the commission decided that they would first hold one round of discussion for each application. During the discussion they would each state their findings, but refrain from explicitly stating their positions on the project. Then, after hearing each other's views, the commissioners would again state their findings.
"It just sounds close-minded." Roupe said about stating support for a project too early in the process.
Page said that he had noticed a lot of "going off track" in meetings. He said it was important for all commissioners to stay on point. Bernald noted that for some applications, it was necessary for the commission to have three rounds of deliberations.
"At some point, we have to make our findings," she said.
Finally, commissioners decided that when referring to each other, they should use the term, "commissioner," even though some commissioners said it felt uncomfortable to be so formal.
After the study session, the commission had a regular meeting in which they held five public hearings, with the last one ending around midnight. Then, under the "commission items" section of the agenda, Kurasch handed out to fellow commissioners a letter stating her views on the progress of commission meetings since the March retreat. She suggested that some commissioners could be condescending and even disrespectful.
"Unless the feeling is that commissioners and their views are not considered as equals, I think it's time to 'let go' and move on; the novice versus the experienced commissioner attitude is wearing thin," she wrote.
Kurasch also wrote that for a commission that emphasized "letting go" of things, she thinks a lot of time is spent at the end of meetings talking about what "should" have occurred.
According to Kurasch's letter, some commissioners have talked about "how 'some commissioners just blab a lot' and should be briefer, and that 'we're all over the place with issues that don't relate.' It feels like always being scolded after the fact," she wrote.
Kurasch, as well as Erna Jackman, George Roupe and Cynthia Barry, are relative newcomers to the commission. The city council appointed Kurasch, Jackman and Roupe to the commission in April 1999, along with Ann Waltonsmith, who was then appointed to the city council last August to finish the term left vacant by the death of Mayor Jim Shaw. The council appointed Barry to the commission in November 1999, to replace Waltonsmith.
The appointments last year constituted a drastic move for the council, since it chose the four newcomers over three former commissioners who all hoped to return for new terms.
Commission chairman Chuck Page has been part of the commission since 1998; commissioner Margaret Patrick was appointed in 1994 and Bernald was appointed in 1996.
Bernald, former chairwoman, brought up the issue of long meetings on March 22, when she adjourned that meeting at 10:30 p.m. She said the meeting's length concerned her, considering there were only two items on that night's agenda. That night, commissioners Patrick and Page said they felt that some commissioners were too repetitive in both their comments and their questions.
According to Walgren, the commission has a policy not to open any public hearings past 11 p.m., but he said meetings themselves can last indefinitely and that the commission can amend its policy at any time.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
