At the August 24th Shawnee City Council Meeting four members did the right thing. They showed up in the council chambers. Council members Eric Jenkins, Mike Kemmling, Tammy Thomas and Kurt Knappen were the ones that showed up.
So, what happened? Our mayor proceeded to come up with every excuse she could think of for not resuming in person council mfeetings. Needless to say, the other three major JoCo cities (OP, Lenexa and Olathe) and the BOCC have resumed in person meetings.
The mayor seemed to base most of her comments on the ability to maintain social distancing and how that could not be accomplished with the dais in chambers. Plexiglass barriers would not work, and then she also said if the city attorney and city manager were removed from the dais that would not help. BTW, those two should NEVER be on the dais no matter what. They are NOT members of the governing body. They belong in the staff section of the audience like in every other city. If their comments are needed they can come to the podium and deliver them, on open microphone, not whispered off mic.
Anyway, back to social distancing. She was right. It can't be maintained with everybody sitting on the dais. So, have half of them get their butts off the dais. Set up tables down front of the dais. Social distancing can be maintained. It will mean running some additional cables for microphones etc. but it can be done. Get that overpaid city manager (he who just got a 25% $40K raise) to use some American common sense and ingenuity to come up with a workable plan. Quit coming up with excuses as to why something can't be done. Start thinking of ways to make it happen.
This would also bring back that very important part of a council meeting...."Business from the floor".
It is out and out BS that we are told to email comments ahead of time to the governing body. Are they read into the minutes of the meeting? Are they attached as part of the minutes? What about comments that might be made while an item is being discussed that were not thought about prior to a discussion?
I won't even get into the admonishment of the four council members. I believe they are due a public apology.
