Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Woodstock City Council - an exceptional meeting tonight

Tonight the Woodstock City Council met in its final meeting for the year. The Mayor and all the council members attended. They are Mayor Brian Sager and Council members Joe Starzynski, Mark Saladin, Maureen Larson, Mike Turner, Julie Dillon and RB Thompson.

After a proclamation was read to honor Phoenix Woodworking Corporation and Founder and President Sandra Pierce, the Council got right to work on the Chip Amati issue. I'll write about that in the article that follows this.

I would like to commend and thank Mayor Sager and the City Council for their attention to and reception of the comments of the many Woodstock residents who appeared at tonight's meeting. Tonight's meeting was, in my opinion, the most open meeting I have attended.

When Mayor Sager opened the public comment period, he invited speakers to step to the microphone. Tonight there seemed to be no time limit; often the limit has been three-four minutes. The Mayor did not call time on any of the speakers, nor did he hurry any of them. When a resident wishes to step back to the microphone and make a subsequent comment, Mayor Sager allowed that without any limiting comment.

The audience noticed the openness of the meeting, and several speakers thanked the Mayor and the Council for their receptivity.

As the public comment period was closing, the Mayor re-invited anyone to step forward, and some new speakers stepped up, and some of the previous speakers returned to comment further.

It is clear that this matter is weighing heavily on the City Council. In addition to the thanks expressed at the meeting, I compliment and thank Mayor Sager and the members of the Woodstock City Council for their complete attention and their individual responses after the public comment period.

Ladies and gentlemen, THANK YOU.

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