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Post by Randal Clark Place 3 on Dec 1, 2022 1:18:28 GMT
I would like to have a work session and then have an agenda item regarding forum protocol including: profile naming standards, standard thread categories such as year under council meetings then thread by date, this future Agenda Items thread etc. We also need to have the protocol rules on here as well as the maximum duration of posts for this forum before archive date as a sticky so the citizens know how long the posts will be visible and what items can and will be discussed.
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Post by mikesnyder on Dec 1, 2022 3:11:44 GMT
I think that Hutto has a lot of other things to worry about than what the "naming standards" should be. We are already working to limit discussion before the 1st 24hrs is up. The problem with protocols, to me is this.... The 7 of us are independent and represent Hutto. Limiting what one can and cannot say, or when they can say it defeats the whole purpose of the forum. Not to mention there is the lingering issue with 1st Amendment rights that some on council have already tried to mess with.
Basically, to me, before we start implementing "rules" and "protocols", should we not use the system first and see what is working and not working? To come right out of the gate with what all the "rules" and "protocols" should be before 1/2 the CC has even logged in, seems premature.
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Post by Randal Clark Place 3 on Dec 1, 2022 18:37:51 GMT
My point is it does matter to have things correct from the beginning. My suggestion is that it is worth setting some minimum standards and tweak as necessary as we and future council members use the tool. For example: setting a spec for Display Name makes sense and a starting point could be : FirstName LastName Place X:Mayor:Mayor Pro Tem. Also Each council member sets their Avatar picture to the same as City Website profile pic for consistency. Second, we define subject areas that need to be created by Admin to ensure fixed locations for needed topics such as Future Agenda, Community Events section, others we define. Lastly, how long do we want to keep posts online? IE State law requires a minimum of 30 days. These simple standards I outlined above should be set soon to provide a consistent and more professional looking and running forum. Setting professional standards early follows the old adage from Ben Franklin “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” . He coined this phrase when trying to have fire code standards adopted as he understood that specifications have their most profound effect and protection when created from the beginning and not after the fact to fix issues.
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Post by mikesnyder on Dec 2, 2022 15:19:17 GMT
1st, I wouldn't compare how we spell or write our names to Ben Franklin working on fire codes. The "an ounce of prevention" deals with someone dying if certain things happen. Whether you place "Place 3" by your name or not, to me, doesn't matter a bit to the taxpayer. They have bigger problems and more than likely want us focusing on infrastructure and now how we display our name.
Also, after last night, I don't know that we need an agenda item for this. We can easily figure this out in the forum as like the Mayor Pro Tem said, that's what this is for.
I can tell you though that this seems like a complicated way to do something basic. Just have a conversation. It's taken close to a year or so and multiple amendments to figure out how to put a person on a board or commission and/or remove them. Now we are going to determine what "categories" a topic goes under, what we can talk about and so on.
With the State Law minimum of 30 days, but we have to keep the record for 6yrs, I would say that we just keep everything for 6yrs and keep the threads live.
I can see several instances where I may go back and want to comment on an item after the 30days. Heck, it takes us longer than 30 days to come up with decisions on most items.
Picture wise, I may want to wear a Santa Hat during Christmas. I'm not sure of what rules you have planned, but if I change my picture, I guess I'll have to do it with the knowledge that I may be "punished" for breaking a "protocol".
Speaking of protocols, I voted to get rid of them once before and I'm real close to doing it again. Some members on City Council worry more about "council protocols" than actual issues affecting our citizens. We spend more time deciding who can talk, when they can talk and what they can say, than we do on the issues that matter to taxpayers. I've never seen a group of people come up and speak about "protocols". The speak on traffic, speed zones, taxes, parks.
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Post by Randal Clark Place 3 on Dec 2, 2022 21:52:53 GMT
I agree that 30 days is too short. My one concern would be 6 years is probably to long as that would lead to too much clutter. Perhaps an 18 month window would make more sense, but clean up the Community event area more frequently. I am saying we need some rules that Admin can follow to create a professional environment. For example, we can't create Boards but I feel we need a year Board under council meetings and under each year have months and then we can post threads for each meeting. As of now we can't start posting under a Dec 15th council board and that should have already been created by an IT admin. If we don't get those kinds of things setup soon it will shortly become cluttered and confusing to find items for citizens.
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Post by mikesnyder on Dec 2, 2022 23:18:18 GMT
I'm still sticking to 6yrs. I don't agree with "too much clutter". The posts are searchable. I would love to have had this message board back with the Co-Op and Perfect Game were being discussed. Then, I could go search to see what exactly people were thinking when they left the future of a chunk of land in Hutto in the hands of developers.
Maybe we wait a year to see about the clutter? It seems like we are trying to correct a problem before we have a problem.
Message boards work really well out in the real world without a lot of oversight.
Either way, I think having an agenda item on this defeats the purpose of what you all said last night on getting things done.
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Post by Randal Clark Place 3 on Dec 3, 2022 1:14:31 GMT
How do you suggest we give guidance to have IT admin create the boards we want since we don't have the ability to do on here? I thought the best practice to direct staff is to have a vote setting action during a meeting?
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Post by mikesnyder on Dec 3, 2022 14:50:17 GMT
You just ask James to make the option available. James can either say "on it" or "I don't think that that is necessary". If James goes with the latter, we can have an agenda item to make it happen, assuming the votes are there.
But, in a forum like this where staff is watching, You bring up that you want the ability to make additional boards. I agree with you and if another CC member or so say the same thing, then I think we will probably see an email from James at some point saying that 1) by such and such date, that option will be available
, 2) it's not a feature that works with this program or 3) it's some really expensive feature and he thinks that we should talk it through.
Look, my hope is that we get CC meetings to run like other cities. I'm not asking for CC members to speak on every issue. I'm expecting a presentation by staff that basically eliminates the need for comment by the City Council due to the information and options presented. Most of our time is spent asking questions because we were not communicated to effectively or, a new policy was made and we weren't presented with in prior too (and I'm not talking 72hrs).
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Post by mikesnyder on Dec 7, 2022 14:27:24 GMT
I've asked James to open up the ability to start a new "board". As right now, we can't post on any new meeting thing until staff starts a new conversation
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