Gilroy
– For years, an egg timer has warned people speaking at public
meetings when their three minutes are up. And for years, residents
worked up over new housing projects and controversial policies have
barreled past the time limit.
Gilroy – For years, an egg timer has warned people speaking at public meetings when their three minutes are up. And for years, residents worked up over new housing projects and controversial policies have barreled past the time limit.
The ding went unheard or they simply ignored it.
City leaders plan to leave no room for excuses in the area of public speaking as they move forward with a $100,000-plus renovation of City Hall’s council chambers. The spending includes a $1,000 system modeled on a traffic signal – green turns yellow as speaking time runs out, and then red when time is up.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to get people to stop talking,” Councilman Craig Gartman said. “People sometimes get extremely passionate about what they’re saying and they’ll repeat themselves five or six times. Unfortunately, if you don’t keep those comments in check, you can have a public hearing go for two hours with a lot of people saying the same thing.”
The comment timer is one of several improvements “we’ve been holding off on for years during hard times,” Gartman added. “We need to catch up a bit and it makes better financial sense now than to have done it in the past.”
Catching up also means $50,000 for sound system improvements and $16,000 for equipment that will show vote tallies and allow councilmen to place themselves in the cue to speak. Currently, officials must hold up their hands to get the attention of the mayor, who conducts the meetings. Officials hope to trim $20,000 from the sound system budget through the bidding process, which could leave funds for a few wish-list items: two flat screen monitors, one for the council chambers and other for a foyer. The two items could cost a combined $15,000.
The biggest change to council chambers will involve the chamber’s furnishings. Many of the orange-padded chairs still have holes in their backs – a reminder of the days when ashtrays were latched to seat backs. Replacement plans include $21,000 to rip out the chairs and install removable seating. The change will allow the city to reconfigure the space for training sessions and other gatherings, according to Gilroy Facilities Manager Rick Brandini. He said the seats would not be fold-up chairs but would interlock for greater stability.
The chambers also will get new carpeting and a fresh coat of paint as part of wider improvements throughout City Hall.
The changes are the first major overhaul of the public space in more than three decades. In recent years, the city spent $40,000 installing new video cameras so that it could record meetings digitally and broadcast them on the Internet. Another $50,000 was spent on a presentation system that included a lectern with a built-in computer and video projector.
City leaders caught some flack five years ago for purchasing ergonomically designed leather chairs at a cost of $1,000 each. The $100,000 budget for new improvements does not provide for new chairs – though council members can often be found standing to stretch their backs during meetings – but it does call for $4,000 to add a six inch lip to the dais. The change is intended to hide the clutter of papers that accumulate in front of council members during the course of a meeting.
Mark Zappa, a Republican political organizer and frequent speaker at council meetings, called the latest round of spending wasteful.
“It’s not a good use of the city’s money for things don’t seem to be broken but more aesthetic,” Zappa said. “A thousand dollars for a new timer is ridiculous. Thirty thousand dollars for a new sound system is ridiculous. I’m sure the taxpayers would rather have sidewalks repaired than have their money spent on things that benefit a a few elected leaders.”
City leaders will discuss the chamber improvements during February budget sessions. They hope to perform the upgrades in Aug. 2007.
