RESTORE PUBLIC COMMENT IN IDAHO

Background:  Mayor Brian Blad, the 4-term mayor of Pocatello, Idaho, discontinued public comment without any deliberation of City Council after the 01/5/2023 City Council meeting.

At a 03/28/23 Town Hall (the first Town Hall in 3 years!) the Mayor cherry-picked who did and didn't get to speak and limited the entire meeting to 1 hour, silencing the voices of over half the people who had signed up to speak. The Mayor expressed in an East Idaho News Article, he intends to hold a Town Hall every 4 months (only 3 times per year) 

https://www.eastidahonews.com/2023/03/pocatello-to-hold-town-hall-about-library/

In the 02/26/2023 Idaho State Journal (ISJ) article “Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad Permanently Eliminates Public Comment Period At City Council Meetings” Blad told the ISJ:   “Since the City Council and I cannot respond to items brought forward from this 15-minute item on a City Council agenda, I felt it best to remove the item.”

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/freeaccess/pocatello-mayor-brian-blad-permanently-eliminates-public-comment-period-at-city-council-meetings/article_935cdfe6-b4a5-11ed-b931-c39cacd4ad0d.html

Removal of Public Comment is a time-honored practice of a Representative Government.

It's not that difficult to comply with the Open Meeting laws AND take public comment. Many cities across Idaho have figured out how to do this.  Open meeting laws exist to ensure transparency in government.
These laws are for the protection of the People, not to be used against the People as an overhyped excuse to justify limiting public interactions with their own constituents. 

Public comment in a public forum allows the citizens of Pocatello to bring issues and concerns to the attention of the full council - in order to create accountability for their elected representatives.  This practice is the most transparent form of communication between a government and its people. 

Pocatello has been without a public comment agenda item for 90 days! Follow https://www.facebook.com/Pocatello4accountability/  for updates.

ACT NOW

SIGN THE PETITION TO RESTORE PUBLIC COMMENT TO THE CITY OF POCATELLO AGENDAS. 

PETITION

We, the citizens of Pocatello, urge Mayor Brian Blad to stop silencing the community’s voices and to prioritize the most transparent form of communication between the People and its government by RESTORING PUBLIC COMMENT to regular city council meeting agendas; 

AND

We, the citizens of Pocatello, urge Pocatello City Council members, Rick Cheatum, Linda Leeuwrik, Josh Mansfield, Corey Mangum, Scott Marchand and Brent Nichols to exercise the separation of powers within City Government and utilize the policy-making authority granted to them by the People to enact a City of Pocatello policy requiring public comment, so that it may not be unilaterally removed again in the future.