October City Council Message
By: Todd Steinbrink, Contact this Councilmember
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One interesting detail from the recent Resident Survey was that most residents rely on the Bulletin for information on what’s going on in the city. As a result, City Council wanted to provide a monthly article for sharing how your government works or other timely topics. For the inaugural column, I’d like to share how we are able to address the many issues and ideas that are generated in our city.
City Council’s agenda is typically made up of approving day-to-day staff actions and budget items while occasionally making policy decisions ranging from Arts to Zoning. Fortunately, in addition to City Council, our Charter created a number of Boards and Commissions, comprised of volunteers who also have an interest in serving our city. There are nine different groups, utilizing the talent and diversity of 63 other Montgomery residents who are responsible for leading the discussion in specific areas. Council members meet with each group monthly to listen to their discussions.
In general, the role of each Board or Commission is to serve as a starting point for many of the “decisions” made in our community. They provide leadership and advice on the needs of our community, review the many existing or proposed activities, and independently research and recommend ideas for staff or Council consideration. Some of these activities are pro-active, while others respond to items or decisions needing immediate attention. In either case, the process allows for a broad mix of citizen involvement, public discussion and recommendations for moving the city forward.
Countless hours go into the many decisions required for a city our size. For example, Montgomery’s Boards and Commissions are instrumental in guiding the process for selecting the type of flowers for the decorative gardens and hanging baskets, controlling the color and originality of materials on our historic buildings, providing attention to detail necessary for guiding large projects such as Twin Lakes, and navigating the planning process enabling Montgomery to host the 2007 Homearama.
I am proud of the many decisions made every day by our city employees, our Boards and Commissions and the many other volunteers working to make the most of our city. I hope that every citizen takes advantage of the opportunity to contribute, in a leadership role or as an active participant in the public discussion of ideas. Together, we are all working to keep Montgomery a growing and vibrant “premier residential community.”