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2023/09/11 - Mayor's Column: Communications

“AN OPEN DOOR TO O’FALLON”
A WEEKLY NOTE FROM MAYOR HERB ROACH
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Over the past few weeks, several questions have been asked about different items relating to communications between the Citizens and the City Council.  Last week, I explained about the new equipment that is being installed at City Hall to improve remote communications with anyone interested in participating or listening to what is occurring at our City Council meetings.  This week, I’m going to share with you a comparison of how citizens are allowed to give input in O’Fallon in comparison with other local communities, and a few other topics.

CITIZENS INPUT AT CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS:

I did a survey of seven other communities in the area that range from 14,000 residents to 40,000 residents to see how we compare:

  1. OPPORTUNITIES FOR CITIZENS TO SPEAK: O’FALLON Seems to be the only city to allow more than one scheduled time during council meetings to speak. This was a change I made shortly after becoming Mayor.
  2. TIME ALLOWED TO SPEAK: Some cities allow only three or four minutes to speak.  O’Fallon allows up to five minutes each time.
  3. ADVANCE REQUEST TO SPEAK: Some cities require a written request days in advance.  O’Fallon does not require advance notice to speak.
  4. COUNCIL APPROVAL: We even found one community that seems to require a vote by the council for the citizens to speak.  The O’Fallon city government does not require any approval by council for a citizen to speak.
  5. In looking at this, the O’Fallon City Council allows anywhere from 200% to over 300% more time for our citizens to express themselves to the council at our council meetings vs any of the other cities and no advance notices.  It is the least restrictive on citizens.

CHANGES IN STRUCTURE AT MEETINGS:

The city tries to listen to all our citizens as to changes they may want to see.  So, from time to time, we will try new setups or structures to see how they work.  Some time we will try them and notice that additional modifications are needed but it is done so that we can have good and efficient meetings for all involved. 

One other thing that the city does, that many other cities don’t do is to allow as many to attend as possible by offering both virtual as well as physical presence at our meetings and allow input from both during meetings.

As residents of O’Fallon, you should always be able to reach out to your elected officials and ask questions about what is happening in O’Fallon. Having open communications is important to me and something I care very deeply about. Thank you for reading, and please remember, my door is always open.