Yelm City Council cancels April 14th online public meeting

This message was received in an e-mail received at 3:17pm today from the city of Yelm: Cancelled April 14, 2020 Yelm City Council Agenda

• Editor’s note:
• The city of Yelm cancelled several council meetings last year when the city administrator put nothing on their agenda, covered on this blog just last September.
• Council member Joe DePinto then said, “I would love for the agendas to be posted at least a week prior to any of our scheduled meetings but that is not the norm currently. I do agree that it is an important forum for folks to give public testimony on the record.”
• This quote needs to be repeated for emphasis:
• “I do agree that it is an important forum for folks to give public testimony on the record.”
• While the Mayor’s “virtual town hall forum” yesterday was welcome, that is no substitute for an on-the-record public council meeting!
• There is too much business for the council and public to consider during this pandemic, i.e. the city’s revenue loss projections and modelling, contingency planning to conserve cash, and unemployment numbers where some residents will not have jobs in Yelm awaiting their return.
• Regional Executive Editor for the parent of the Nisqually Valley News, Eric Schwartz, announced in a front page story today, “NVN Finds Itself In A Fight For Survival”
• Just contemplating that story sent shivers down my spine about potential repercussions for Yelm !

• Bottom line:
• I agree with Councilor DePinto that this “is an important forum for folks to give public testimony on the record,” and also for constituents to see and hear their representatives at work.
• I understand these councilors also have their own challenges with the virus impacts as well,
• For the city council to sideline their official public meeting is an unprecedented rebuff to the public interests they took an oath to serve.