The City of Two Rivers will be doing more to listen to its residents.
The City Council unanimously approved hosting listening sessions starting next year at different locations around the city.
Three council members would attend the meetings, which Council President Scott Stechmesser says will be held quarterly for now.
“And if it’s something whereas we go along and we just have so many people there and not enough time, then potentially maybe halfway through you look at doing it more often or something,” he explained. “But I think to start with, to see how the turnout is, I think we just stick with quarterly.”
City Attorney Shawn Griffin explained that the city needs to ensure they don’t cross the line of having a quorum or enough elected people to have a formal meeting.
If too many members show up, it could break the Open Meetings Act.
Instead, the listening sessions would be informal and allow residents to come and talk about what they see as important to the city.
No action would be taken. City Manager Greg Buckley asked if residents would be asked to state their names.
Griffin says the meeting needs to be as informal as possible.
“It can certainly be more of a casual conversation,” he stated. “Because those steps are being taken to make this as much not a like a meeting as it can be.”
Notes or meeting minutes might not be required for the meetings, either.
The first meeting was discussed as being on February 19th, with the time yet to be determined.
