From: "E.J. Totty", [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>The meetings are open for people to go along, and sit, and watch. The issue
>is when you want to add something. Unless the "Chair" asks, you aren't
>supposed to speak.
>
>If you do, they can ignore your point totally. No obligation on them to
>discuss!!
>
>I been told that a Ward member can write to the Parish, with a number of
>seconders (not certain on number, 6 to 20 suggested), and you can formally
>request a open ballot.
>
>I'm looking into this !!
>
>Thanks
>Tom C
Tom,
And, a few other things that you might do is get a copy of the
charter that was used to establish your town's committee. What you should
do is seek to amend it to ameliorate your current situation.
A nice touch would be to make all decisions by the committee
subject to validation by a vote of the citizens where a decision affects
any citizen's ability to engage in a lawfully protected and/or other activity
that is already regulated by another government agency or entity.
Essentially, the gist of the matter should be that the committee
should have not have the ability to do anything that makes new law, rules, or
regulations without the vote of the citizens to confirm or reject.
I'm going to presume here that the meetings are previously
scheduled and publicly announced?
Additionally, you should seek to have a change instituted that sets
a reasonable comment period during each meeting, that allows all citizens
to have an input both oral and/or in writing for the record (regardless of who
attends). In this way, the committee cannot be emphatic in a denouncing
recrimination that their acts were not questioned. If enough of you are on
record <<and recorded in the minutes>> as against (or for) a certain thing,
then any decision to the contrary by the committee must be certifiably
defined as predicated upon some higher authority. Otherwise, they will
have exposed themselves as having a predetermined ulterior motive.
Other than that, here's the best touch that could well receive
the greatest amount of animosity:
Amend your charter to include something to the effect that the
members of the committee must swear an oath to uphold the English Bill
of Rights, and that no act or decision made by them shall run contrary to
the contents thereof, under penalty of immediate disbarment, and a suitable
punishment.
ET
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