Council questions during meetings

While on the council, I would periodically have to respond to comments about why I did not ask a lot of questions during the meetings. There is and was a very simple response to this question: preparation.

The town council receives the agenda packet approximately 5 days prior to the meeting. The packet is very comprehensive. The public can see the same packet they get on the town website.

While in office, if I had questions about something, I would contact the appropriate town staff member to get my answers. I did that often. If I felt that this was something that was important to share publicly, I would let them know that I would ask the question at the meeting, so that they were prepared.

People may think that when council members ask a lot of questions during the meeting, that they are especially effective. Frankly, I always felt that it was the opposite, that it showed lack of preparation.

So I encourage you to check out the agenda packet online and see how many questions could have been answered in those documents.