Saturday, August 02, 2008

GROUP SUBMITS PETITIONS TO RETURN TELEVISED PUBLIC FORUM

PUEBLO – A citizens group working to roll back last year’s decision by the Pueblo City Council to do away with the televised public forum during regular council meetings turned in their petitions Friday to make the August 1st deadline set by the Pueblo City Clerk’s office.

The effort has been named the Pueblo Free Speech Initiative by its organizers and seeks to reestablish public forum prior to the commencement of any business at regular Pueblo City Council meetings. The measure would also require that the public forum be included as part of the televised portion of the regular meeting and allow up to six people to address the City Council on camera for five minutes each.

The Pueblo City Council voted last September to do away with the televised public forum by moving it into the non-televised work session meetings. The rule change has drawn criticism from members of the community who are concerned that the move eliminates the public’s ability to voice concerns to the community, especially on nights when the council is taking action by resolution. The council is not required to hold a public hearing before voting on resolutions.

The group calling themselves Pueblo Citizens for Open Government turned in 2,003 signatures. The petitions contain 644 signatures over and above the 1,359 signatures necessary for a citizen’s imitative. Both state law and the city charter require the group to have obtained signatures totaling at least five percent of the votes cast in the most recent municipal election in order to move their issue forward. The City Clerk must determine if the group has submitted enough valid signatures to force an action by the council.

If successful, the City Council will be required to take action within 30 days. The City Charter requires that council either pass the ordinance without alterations or they must refer the proposed ordinance to city voters in the upcoming November election.

The measure would not cost the city any additional funds since the regular meetings are already being televised. The petitions were submitted by Pueblo resident Chris Nicoll and former District 4 City Council member Ted Lopez Jr. The circulation of petitions was a collaborative effort of approximately twenty of Pueblo’s citizens.

Pueblo Citizens for Open Government was formed shortly after the Pueblo City Council voted to eliminate the televised public forum in September of 2007. Comments made by former City Council President Judy Weaver to the Pueblo Chieftain alarmed many people in the community. Weaver was quoted saying “People have to understand this is our meeting being held in public; it’s not a public meeting.”