Letter: Portsmouth council reversed course on openness

Posted 2/13/19

To the editor,

The Portsmouth Town Council has adopted Councilman Katzman’s proposals to restrict citizen access to its meetings, ending a 13-year tradition of full access. In the process …

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Letter: Portsmouth council reversed course on openness

Posted

To the editor,

The Portsmouth Town Council has adopted Councilman Katzman’s proposals to restrict citizen access to its meetings, ending a 13-year tradition of full access. In the process the council has reversed course on its policy of openness to its citizens. It has also fundamentally moved to shield itself from critical comments.

Members of the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens opposed these changes as both unnecessary and a direct attempt to severely limit questions on complex agenda matters. The prevailing view on the council was that curtailing citizen involvement will improve the quality of government in Portsmouth and directly benefit its citizens. Of the eight voters who came to speak, none agreed with that assessment.

The council voted unanimously to require written backup documents from all citizens submitting agenda items. They have in effect erected a new barrier for citizens as the policy adopted by the council in 2006 did not require them. Portsmouth citizens will now be required to research and draft documents which fully explain their concerns. We suspect that they will not be allowed to stray from that framework. 

This appears to the PCC to be an attempt to provide council members the time to have staff answers prepared to these questions, as most are clearly unable to answer complex questions on subject such as the budget and audits. The PCC would like to point out to the council that the complexity of these type of documents is not driven by the citizens, who would clearly prefer documents they can understand, but by the council itself. 

On the issue of Mr. Katzman's three-minute rule, it was much closer. The council vote to approve was 4-3, which passed a rigid limit of three minutes for citizens to speak on agenda items. Citizens will also not be allowed to ask complex questions, without first submitting them in writing. A steep hill considering the four-day notice given on agendas. Council members Andrew Kelly, Keith Hamilton and Kevin Aguiar voted against the motion.  

The rule is draconian at its heart and unworkable for the citizens. It does, unfortunately, meet the main objective of those in the majority: suppressing the citizen’s technical questions on complex issues. Citizen access will quickly become a victim of the stopwatch.

A review of the State Constitution ( Article I, section 21) and the Portsmouth Town Charter (paragraph 210) will reveal that the citizens have reserved to themselves the right to access council deliberations and agendas. We expect the council to follow these obligations in deciding who can speak and what they can say, and that no citizen will be denied access to Portsmouth government on technicalities.

Larry Fitzmorris

President, Portsmouth Concerned Citizens

50 Kristen Court

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