Counsel for the council on getting public involved

Nine good people sit on our Portsmouth City Council. Elected every two years, they have just 730 days — give or take one or two depending on how the calendar shapes up and whether their term includes a Leap Year — to do good deeds. They have an immense pile of work for part-timers who earn $75 a meeting — with a $1,500 yearly limit — and have a day or night job to make a living.

This current council is impressive with its across-the-board diversity of talent. Along with City Manager John Bohenko and City Attorney Bob Sullivan sitting at the table, it's a smart, great collective. Businesspeople, company bosses, leaders in education, law, development and planning. Some rather new to the city, others who are long-timers. Some youngish, others not quite. An excellent group of hands-on working women and men dedicated to their community.

They agree on many things, and disagree on some. One was this past Monday when they voted 5 to 4 against considering Worth lot as the location for a parking garage. I was at the meeting, as well as a previous meeting in October when they spent almost three hours chatting about the issue, and I have to say I was impressed with the commitment of each councilor to listen and to think it through.

I applauded the majority decision not to build a garage there. During the past few months I had met with opponents of the garage and saw up-close-and-personal their hard work and concern, so my heart was in seeing the open space of Worth lot maintained for our future. But the important part of the decision wasn't just the result — it was the process leading up to it. Dozens of citizens, including some who had been saying "we can't fight City Hall," had banded together, spoke up, made calls, wrote letters, drew signs, wore "Not 'Worth' It" buttons, and preserved what for them is an important part of their lives.

This victory of people and open space over brick and cement was an incredible and real lesson in democracy. And regardless of how they voted, all nine councilors had set a process that for allowed public input, open discussion and in the end a decision that allows the dialogue to continue. What a win-win that is. The people won, but so did the process.

Speaking of process, I'd like to offer two "new" ways the council could involve the public. When I was assistant mayor in 1990, I proposed what was adopted as the "public comment session," allowing up to three minutes at the beginning of most meetings for anyone to address the council about any topic. I think that has worked well — as shown this past Monday when more than 30 people took that opportunity and addressed the parking issue. But it does have limitations.

I think an addition could be what we have seen in the "Portsmouth Listens" process. I suggest the council consider using the first 30 minutes of every other meeting, or at least once a month, for a "Talk With Your Councilors" segment. Depending on the number of citizens attending, the nine councilors can divide into half or groups of threes and chat — on an equal level, not from their up-high seats — in round-circle discussions. About anything. With everyone. No arguments. Just listening, exchanging, having a dialogue.

Another suggestion might be that the council could arrange a once-a-month "Call Your Council" segment from 6 to 7 p.m. before a regular meeting, inviting people to call and have a dialogue. Not everyone can spend time calling each member or attend a meeting at City Hall. So allowing citizens to make a one-stop conference call with their governing body would be a good way to expand public involvement. It could also include an interactive live blog, and be simultaneously televised on the community channel.

Even if just one new great idea a year comes from increased public involvement, it's worth it. We have tremendous talent in our city, but not everyone can make the time commitment to be on a board or committee, or to run for council. Since ideas are really the foundation of democracy, as shown this past Monday, seeking out those ideas is time well spent by our councilors.

The public comment session process has gone a long way toward including people — perhaps thousands have spoken using that opportunity during the past two decades that we have had it. But the search needs to go on for ways to do more, and to better communicate "with," not just "to" or "at," one another.

Today's quotes: "Citizenship is what makes a republic — monarchies can get along without it." — Mark Twain. "Deliberation and debate is the way you stir the soul of our democracy." — Jesse Jackson

Today's thought: A few days ago I was watching an episode from my "West Wing" DVD collection. It was about how the White House and Congress were spending all their time talking amongst themselves, getting bogged down with too many details and not enough of the "big picture" of what government should do, which is to help and include people in the process of governing. Of course, this was a television show, and is just fiction.

Airport officials are recommending that Achievement House get the job after the contract of concessionaire Alexis Enterprises expires in January. Alexis has been the second concessionaire since 2006.

Airport Manager Richard Howell said Alexis owners had told him they didn’t have time to manage this as well as their several other business operations.

Among its other goals, Achievement House seeks to develop workplace skills, according to Howell.

He said the group already operates food and beverage concessions at Camp Roberts, the Laguna Lake Golf Course, Atascadero’s Colony Park and the Santa Maria Transportation Hub.

Because the location will have an Achievement House staff member on hand, the concession will have two people to serve the public rather than the current single clerk. That will increase the level of service to customers, Howell wrote in a staff report to the Board of Supervisors.

“A real win-win situation for everyone,” Howell told  The Tribune in an email.

The county plans to give the nonprofit a break on its first-year rent. It is inserting a contract provision that says it won’t have to pay rent for any month when gross receipts are less than $15,000, a figure it does not expect the concessionaire to reach.

After Alexis, which took over the snack bar and gift shop in 2010, said it would not renew its contract, the county sought someone else to run the operation, which Howell describes as “popular and needed.”