Saturday, January 31, 2009

process update

city council is meeting with all of its subcommittees for a review. the foothills conservation advisory committee is scheduled for february 10, as far as we know in the late afternoon. work sessions are fact finding meetings for council. the public is welcome to attend, but no comments are taken.

the fcac's packet went to city council 2 weeks ago. we got our copy on monday. it includes 114 pages of information on the dog discussions that started last february. reading the fcac's packet, it appears that they are defending the way the process was handled.

it also seems, from conversations held at the last few fcac meetings, that they will propose that they become a rule making body similar to the parks board, enabling them to make policy without needing final approval from council. there is nothing about this in the packet we received but it seems to be a high priority for Chairman McDevitt.

since i don't understand what processes are required prior to making policy it's a bit hard to tell what the implications of a move like this would be. on the surface, if the charge of the fcac is to conserve the resource it would seem right to also have council involved to find the balance between that conservation and use of the resource. i am also a bit concerned because this has been such a painful process, and no one is asking how it could work better.

i do not believe that council will make any decisions on the 10th.

will keep things updated as we find out more about what's going on.

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