Memo to the Commissioners: The county blows it with a time limit.

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My off the cuff is that this is a bad idea.

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We’re told:

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“The breaking point has been that, week after week, the same few people show up to talk about the same issues (illegal immigration, the Columbia River Crossing and a proposed sports complex in Hazel Dell are contentious topics of late).”

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“At Tuesday’s meeting, the open public comment portion, where people talk about anything they want, ran more than 45 minutes, with one regular speaker going on for nearly 20 minutes before Commissioner Steve Stuart, who, as chairman, runs the meetings, told him to wind it up.”

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Isn’t this part of your job? Isn’t this the price we pay for democracy?

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Just on the surface, it would seem to me that the commissioners should have 45 minutes to spare, even if they’ve heard it repeatedly? Do the commissioners work for us? Or do we work for them?

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What if you owned a business and, as part of that business, brought in an employee, once a week, to talk about the goals of the business, every week, and they turned out to be the same goals?

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What if you could only fire that employee once every four years? What if he was ignoring you every time you talked to him about the goals for the business?

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You, the owner, PAY this guy. Just like WE pay the salaries of these commissioners. Does the employee have the right to look at you and say, "Gee, sorry, even though I work for you and you pay me, I have the right to decide what, and for how long, you're going to talk to me, because I'm sick of hearing it and my time is worth more then yours?"

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Is this about the precious time of the commissioners? Or the geometrically more precious time of the people you would govern?

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The people are not here for your convenience. Not everyone is as articulate as “3 minute” Boldt. In this day and age, people need a government that will go out of their way to listen to them about SOMETHING, unlike Boldt and Stuart, who don’t want to hear what people have to say.

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Listening is your job. No matter how repetitive, boring or ridiculous. Instead of blowing off the concerns of the people, perhaps the commissioners ought to address those concerns and act.

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If the commissioners would ACT on "illegal immigration, the Columbia River Crossing and a proposed sports complex in Hazel Dell (that) are contentious topics of late," then there's a very good chance they wouldn't be hearing about them every week.

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So here's my suggestion to the commissioners: instead of limiting the free speech of those you might govern, look into a mirror and ask yourselves: what can we do to act to address those concerns?

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Because all too frequently, it seems to me that you don't care. And this rule serves to re-enforce that.

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This was the wrong thing to do, and the wrong time to do it.

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LISTEN to us. ACT for us. But don't ignore us, and please don't take any other steps to show your contempt for us.

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