In the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt, #kirbydelauter likes to keep us informed of his thoughts through a monthly column on THAT website curiously named The Tentacle. Read it in full for yourself here.

Now sit down readers, because we aren’t in total disagreement with #. We think he makes some good points about the public comments. Has there been any good answer as to why they were taken away from the beginning of the meeting? We do agree that it is a little arduous to sit through what is sometimes a 4 hour and 40 minute meeting to get your chance to speak. Anyone with any insights on this please share, because it’s a worthy discussion to have.

HOWEVER, we do have some issues with what he had to say.  We do not agree with the council man’s assertion that the council should vote on an issue right after the public hearing. In fact we think he makes our point for us when he states:

Another change that should be made is that we should vote on the issue at the public hearing. This is when things like public comment are fresh in everyone’s mind, and when you can have the debate with concerned residents. As it currently stands, we vote at the third hearing, which could be as much as a month from the date of the public hearing. That makes it very difficult to remember all of the information gathered at the hearing; and one thing you lose, in particular, is the emotion that people had at that hearing. Even if you take copious notes, it’s still difficult a month later to capture all items of importance that the hearing displayed.

An issue SHOULD NOT be decided upon because of the emotion of the situation. And that is exactly why the council should be given the time to digest what has been presented to them. EXACTLY WHY. And Mr. Delauter, if you are reading this, the county records all of your meetings so you can click here to replay all the emotions you may have forgotten.

Kirby, of course, doesn’t miss an opportunity to mention the English Language Ordinance and Aurora because blah, blah, blah..who cares? But we do love this last line:

You have to keep in mind, we’re not elected forever, so how would we want a meeting to run if we were on the other side of the dais?

Oooh when, oh when is he going to be on the other side of the dais?