The final contenders to be the artist whose work is commissioned by the city to represent its centennial will be presented Friday during a special public Cultural Arts Commission meeting from 11 a.m. to 12 noon in the Police/Fire Department Conference Room at 400/420 15th Street, according to the city's website.
The city has authorized payment of up to $200,000 for the piece. City Council will make the final approval of artist and dollar amount spent.
Two quick questions: 1) Why have these important Commission meetings, in both Sept. and Nov. where final selection processes have occurred, been rescheduled from the Commission's regular meeting time of 6PM Tuesday evenings to special Commission meetings occurring at 10 or 11AM on weekdays, when many interested members of the public are unavailable to attend due to employment or other daytime commitments? There's very valid basis for all of our regularly scheduled Council and Commission meetings being on weekday evenings; I'm hoping the unstated reason for these special weekday Commission meetings is also valid. 2) Why is there no specific information readily posted online, either with the Commission agendas or elsewhere on the City website, about any of the finalists' proposals? A City press release did state that "After this meeting, the design panels and 3-dimensional models will be on display at City Hall until the December 4th City Council meeting", but online information regarding the proposals would certainly increase public awareness and, hopefully, participation. Again, the efforts of all involved are greatly appreciated. Thank goodness this important Centennial art selection process is being addressed by a long standing City Commission that operates with well established policies and procedures.
Thank you for your comments and questions. There were considerable discussion about the meeting times. Due to the nature of these past few meetings, we knew they would be 6-9 hours longs. The commission wanted to be sure to stay fresh and alert and wanted to ensure public attendance, especially towards the end, right before discussion and vote. We didn't want a meeting to go to midnight and beyond. Therefore, we decided to hold the meetings earlier and open it to public comment multiple times throughout the meeting. We tried to publish this change as well as possible. Our agendas and meeting minutes should be available online. Also, the artist presentation and our discussion and vote were recorded and too available. If you cannot find it, you can reach out to Gina Allen, the CAC manager. The submissions are available for viewing in City Hall.
The one particular meeting of Artist Presentations was televised and video-recorded. Our CAC Manager, which is a paid employeed position, should be able to get you access.
When such 'city staff issues' so dramatically hamper the public's knowledge of, and ability to participate in the Commission's business, they indeed become Commission issues. As such, I was simply trying to respectfully bring to your attention that, contrary to your original response that the requested information "should be available online", in fact it is not. It's a common trap for those at the dais to presume their laudable efforts are being properly documented and publicly posted, when a simple check of the publicly posted materials too often proves otherwise. As such, it's important that our elected and appointed officials make it a practice to occasionally step aside from their hand-delivered agenda packets and review the level of information available to the general public. The result is often eye opening. I'll close by kindly suggesting that our community would be well served if the Cultural Arts Commission soon agendizes a discussion with its staff liaison on the inclusion of staff reports in its posted agendas and the timely posting of its meeting minutes ... because *that*, sir, is exactly how Commissions can and must gain some reasonable level of control of 'how, what and when items are made available' to those you are appointed to serve.
And *what* special meeting of Nov. 28? No such Cultural Arts Commission meeting has been posted or appears on the City calendar. There's certainly no agenda for any such meeting posted this far in advance, so how is it you can now suggest the agenda item I just recommended will indeed be included and thereby available to 'openly discuss with the Commission and staff'? Presuming this will not be another daytime meeting, please also note that there is already a regular Planning Commission meeting on the City Calendar for Nov. 28 at 6:30PM.
At the end of the day it's up to you, as the current Commission chair (as well as others who may be reading), to do as you wish with this input. My hope is for an improved focus, by *all* of our elected and appointed officials, on actively instilling the above-described cultural change at our City Hall -- a cultural change that will ultimately result in increased public trust, engagement and participation ... which, in turn, will foster improved public decision making and an even stronger community. Frankly, I cannot justify scheduling time to meet with you individually to discuss this yet further. The concept is actually quite basic, and certainly germane to any form of public service. Some get it, and some just don't. My hope is that I've at least helped to move you forward in this regard. In the short term, and as I've suggested, the topic of improved public communications ought be placed on the agenda of a regular Cultural Arts Commission meeting. When I see it there, I'll do my best to attend and participate.
The final approval of the recommendation CAC and APPC for the Centennial Art was approved on Tuesday. The money comes from the Public Art Trust Fund, not any resident taxpayer money.