Update on the meeting time conundrum

City government, Serious Issues 1 Minute

(The latest in a series of posts on City government)

Executive Director Tony Hanna reports that the Bethlehem Redevelopment Authority will change its meeting time from 3PM to 5PM for 2020.

Good work!

Gadfly has been slow to see another benefit of the Mayor suggesting — along with later start-times — live-streaming and archiving such meetings (while there has been some hesitation about changing meetings times, the committee meetings Gadfly attended registered no problems with this).

Gadfly has strongly urged scrutiny of performance when committee members are up for reappointment. The video records can be used as evidence of performance. Council members can now access concrete documentation of performance.

Good work!

 

 

Published by The Bethlehem Gadfly

Edward J. Gallagher, Bethlehem immigrant, retired, nearly 50 years as Professor of American Literature at Lehigh University, known as "Dr. G" and "Conan the Grammarian" to students, whose virtual world avatar "EdwardScholarhands" stares at you here, has reinvented himself as the Bethlehem Gadfly.

Published

3 thoughts on “Update on the meeting time conundrum”

  1. While the video archive, especially since you have highlighted key segments, is a treasure trove.

    As a former literature professor, you probably don’t suffer from a common effect people may need to guard against: people viewing speakers & remarks on-screen are often swayed more by their ‘entertainment’ value than the actual content of their words. Video immerses you in the present, so it can even discourage the cross-linking to previous remarks or previous meetings.

  2. Nice to see at least one city agency take the suggestion from the Mayor, instead of conjuring up all sorts of excuses for not doing it. 

    As to reappointment of the citizen volunteers who serves on these boards, in addition to performance the attendance of appointees at meetings should also be a strong factor, yet I never hear Members of Council question the attendance records of an individuals prior to voting. Anyone can be a very well-qualified person, but if he or she only attends half of the meetings, who cares? They are only filling a seat and are not committed to the responsibilities they have assumed. Dana

  3. Ed,
    Please note that in addition to changing our meeting time from 3 PM to 5 PM, we also changed our meeting dates and meeting venue. We will now be meeting on the 4th Thursday of the month, starting in January 2020, and we will be meeting in Town Hall. The location change will allow us to record our meetings and also live stream them as well. We will be noting all of these changes on the Redevelopment Authority website – http://www.bethlehemrda.com
    Tony

Leave a Reply