In Public Meetings, Function Determines Format

Like other residents of the Leesburg Country Club neighborhood, I recently received a letter from Deputy Town Manager Kaj Dentler, inviting me to an informational meeting about the Linden Hill Access Road project.

The letter said that the meeting would open with an informal question and answer session, to be followed by a formal presentation by town staff.

Because I had another commitment that evening, I knew that I would be unable to attend the meeting, which was held on September 20. But I found it interesting that the town had scheduled the meeting, and I wondered what the purpose was.

With my experience in local government, I knew that sometimes public meetings are scheduled purely for elected officials or staff to receive input from the public. On the other end of the spectrum are meetings in which the information flow goes only in the other direction, and officials are there only to present information to the public. In most public meetings, there is at least some give and take between officials and the audience.

In deciding whether to attend such a meeting, I would be interested in knowing what the format of the meeting would be. As I wrote in , I already have opinions about the Linden Hill Access Road project, and I would not be interested in attending a meeting in which I would only be able to listen to town officials explain and defend their position.

If, on the other hand, officials would be there to listen to residents, and if the input they received might influence the decision-making process – well, that is a different story.

Although the letter from the town stated that there would be a time for the audience to ask questions and get answers, it wasn’t clear that they would be given the opportunity to express their opinions on the subject.

The format of the meeting often gives a clue as to what the organizers hope to accomplish. During my time working in local government, I participated in many such meetings, and even helped organize a few.

These public meetings went by many different names – public hearings, public input sessions, town halls, community forums and focus groups, just to name a few. In public hearings and public input sessions, the information flows almost entirely from the public to the officials. Focus groups are also organized to get ideas and opinions from participants. Town halls and community forums usually have a two-way flow of information.

One word that occasionally came up when I was involved in planning public meetings – and which I assiduously avoided – was “education,” as in “public education meeting.” To me, this smacked of arrogance.

I recall elected officials occasionally saying that we needed to set up a meeting to “educate” the public about a certain issue. In other words, the elected officials already had all the information they needed, and had decided on the best course of action. If only the public were provided that information too, they would see that the officials were right, and come around to their point of view.

I would cringe whenever I heard the word “educate” used in this context. I would point out that people would not react well to the idea of being “educated” by county officials. Most people in Loudoun County are already very well educated. Focus too much on trying to “educate” the public, and the elected officials might find themselves being educated by the voters the next time they run for election.

However, it’s hard to find fault with a public information meeting. Information is something that everyone needs. Intelligent, well-educated people may still lack information about issues, so there is nothing wrong with calling it an informational meeting.

As for the meeting set up by the town for residents of Country Club, it turned out that a portion of the meeting was set aside for residents to express their opinions on the issue. , and that nearly everyone from Country Club appeared to be opposed to the Linden Hill Access Road project.

Several members of the town council attended the meeting, along with town staff. I thought it was telling that, after that meeting, the council scheduled a special meeting on September 23 to discuss the issue. Even though the September 23 meeting was subsequently cancelled, it signaled that the officials were still listening to the public on the matter, and that the outcome was not yet a done deal.

Eventually, the council will have to make a decision on this project that will make some folks unhappy. But I give credit to those council members and staff who attended, for taking the time to explain the issues and, especially, to listen. That’s the way government should work.