NORWICH – Openness in government is essential to the way that any city, town, county or country is run. When it comes to the City of Norwich, government officials and citizens in the community may have different ideas about just how accessible local politics are.
“It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society that the public business be performed in an open and public manner,” the Sunshine Law states. Although most city officials think the government is accessible to the public, some residents of the city do not believe that things are as open as they could be.
“I think we’re very open,” said Fifth Ward Alderman Paul Laughlin. “People only show up when something is on the agenda that is important to their personal interest. If nothing’s going on like that, they don’t show up.” Laughlin said the city officials do what they can to remain open and accessible to the public, but people cannot know everything that is going on if they do not attend the meetings.
“It (city government) should be a lot more open and accessible,” said former mayoral candidate Mike Carnrike. Carnrike takes issue with the way city meetings are set up. “Emphasis is put on attending the meetings, but even if you do, you won’t know the details of what is going on,” Carnrike said. Carnrike feels that meeting agendas and minutes should be posted in an accessible place, so that people are able to stay informed, even when they cannot attend the meetings. Carnrike explained that many people’s lives do not allow the extra time necessary to attend weekly governmental meetings.
According to Mayor Joseph Maiurano and Director of Finance William Roberts, the updated city website will allow for agendas and meeting minutes to be posted. “The reason the agendas are not posted is because it’s not practical. It’s not a secret. Things are changed up until hours before the meeting. If agendas are distributed too early, it could be awkward,” Roberts said.
Carnrike continued, saying that it is discouraging when the public is invited to discuss a matter during a public hearing and the issue is passed by the council only moments later. “It seems like many times things are already decided,” Carnrike said.
Laughlin explained that many times the comments made by the public are nothing new to the council. “Usually we’ve discussed the issues among ourselves. It’s nothing new to us, but we certainly take it into consideration,” Laughlin said.
Another resident, Ed Morano, says the city needs to simplify things to make them more accessible to the public. “They need to have a more simplified accounting system at the council level,” Morano said. “That way everyone can understand each line item, the cost and how it balances for what is appropriated.”
Morano said he thinks if the public was more involved in city government, that they could encourage the council to move faster. He cited the rental registration legislation as an example. “It’s taken me three and a half years to get that through. If more citizens participated, it would go faster. I don’t know why more people don’t. I know that time is limited, and a lot of people aren’t comfortable getting up and speaking, but it pays off.”
Jim Fowlston, another regular meeting attendee, says he knows why people don’t attend. “It’s boring,” he said. Fowlston said he thinks it is important to attend the meetings to understand what is going on in the city. “People are missing out on important information by not being there,” he said.
The mayor thinks many problems people have with the city government can be solved quite simply. “Utilize your alderman,” he suggests. “Each person has an alderman; there phone numbers are listed. If you have something that needs to be addressed, call.”
Roberts guessed that 90 percent of all problems addressed to city hall could have been solved if residents first called their alderman.
“We like to make city government as accessible as we can,” Maiurano said. He pointed out the open forum scheduled at the beginning of every council meeting. “Open forum is not a requirement,” he said. “We try to be accommodating. We want people to know that we are listening.”