I want to make sure you see this comment from Anonymous today regarding the Port commissioner's meeting yesterday. The comment below added information from the meeting that I'd not included. Here's what Anonymous said:
My husband & I were also at the meeting yesterday. For years we've been reading about conflict among our Port Commissioners, & this meeting was a chance for us to witness the unbelievable arrogance of Jay Hupp. He introducted their corporate attorney & asked him to explain the preliminary steps required for a lease agreement with ADAGE. In our opinion, the attorney's comments & answers to questions from the public were very ambiguous. When the public comment period began, Carol presented two questions concerning a possible conflict of interest between Port officials & ADAGE; she respectfully requested that her questions & their answers be made part of the public record. Mr. Hupp told Carol she needed to submit her questions in writing, & she immediately handed them to a staff member at the table. Why weren't her questions answered during the meeting? During the commissioner comment period, Jack Miles asked Jim Gaston several questions about the ADAGE project, & public comments/questions were interjected without objection by the board. However, when Brenda attempted to ask a question, Mr. Hupp interrupted her & said the public comment period was over. She stated her indignation & left the meeting. Mr. Miles asked someone to go get her so they could reopen the public comment period. Mr. Hupp directed angry words at Mr. Miles about deviating from the meeting agenda, & their attorney stepped in to clarify their use of Robert's Rules of Order. We left feeling extremely disappointed with the lack of professionalism among the Port Commissioners.
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Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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Brenda, I truly appreciate this blog & your diligence! However you did get to ask at least a couple of questions, and after several questions from the public, Jay Hupp was reminded that in the order of the agenda, we were in the "Commissioner Comment" section. So in reality, Hupp shouldn't have opened it up to our questions at all. And when he did close it, it was before you stated you had another question. I'm NO fan of Mr. Hupp, and his demeanor toward Mr. Miles was reprehensible, but honestly, I don't feel it was personal, just trying to regain order in the meeting.
ReplyDeleteOf course it's personal. Once given the floor by the Chair, according to Robert;s Rules (which now seem in vogue) the person with the floor should be given the opportunity to finish their point.
ReplyDeleteIn a small board, there is no reason to limit time for the public to comment, it is after all, the public's port and they elect these officials.
So a public comment period of fifteen minutes to run a public port is insufficient and if the floor is given n to any person they should be afforded the courtesy of finishing their comments and questions, or there is no reason for the State to have open meeting laws.
Anonymous, thank you for your response. Actually Mr Gaston had recognized me and I was starting to ask my question when Port Commissioner Hupp chose to "regain order".
ReplyDeleteA member of the audience, Steve Bloomfield was the one who pointed out that the Chair had yielded his control of the meeting to the ADAGE representative during his staff comment time.
Jay could have avoided this whole scene had he never allowed Gaston to take over the podium and the floor.
I certainly don't take Jay's response personally. I've watched him be arrogant and contemptuous to members of the public, as well as his fellow board member, Jack Miles. Shame on our elected officials and shame on Jay especially for being so out of touch with the public. Something's wrong when our elected officials are so threatened by the public asking questions that they must shut us down.
The Port of Shelton meetings have nearly as many sitting at the table (commissioners and staff members) than members of the public. Which after hearing them discuss at length this race car that's going to break the time barrier - whoa, I'm right there. I'm hooked and certainly can see that attending Port meetings is a really valuable use of the public's time.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Jay as chair can't seem to control meetings attended by so few members of the public.