Citizens Assemblies are a great way to involve the community in important decisions. It seems like a no-brainer for one of the cities or the county to do a trial run. How do we get one of these governments to do a trial run? Petition them?
If a city cites cost as a hurdle....could a non-profit, funded privately and run by volunteers perhaps organize and create a template, and then supply it's services to one of the cities or county? That way the city or county cannot cite cost or manpower as an obstacle.
Thanks for this suggestion. I am not an expert, but I have read up a bit on how different Citizens' Assemblies have operated. There are technical (for random selection, for example), organizational and other skills (facilitation) that are needed.
Just like the staff of our court system had to learn the specifics of convening a jury and a using a jury in a courtroom proceeding, the organizational and facilitation skills needed to run a Citizens' Assembly must be learned. Right now, communities that wish to run a Citizens' Assembly are assisted by groups like Healthy Democracy (non-profit that is helping Deschutes), MASS LBP (in Canada) and others in different places around the world. Deschutes Citizens' Assembly cost around $220,000 for their organizational expertise I think? That seems like a small fraction of a city's budget, considering the, long-term implications of significant policy decisions?
The current local governance model in the US is that a small group of administrators and elected officials self-educate and then move priorities and plans forward using highly-paid consultants. The larger community, with its combined life experience and knowledge, is left with one role: to react. Is this governance model upside down? What if elected officials could incorporate--upfront--the input of an informed, inclusive cross-section of the community?
You suggested that locals could become involved in organization and implementation in order to learn technical and organizational aspects, keep money in the community in the future? I wonder if Deschutes has incorporated that "local sustainability" aspect in its contract with Healthy Democracy?
This is an interesting idea. Diversity is key to good governance. The trick is getting the elected officials to get on board. You would think they would be open to an idea that would help them come to the best decisions for the people they serve...
You are right: the trick is to get elected officials on board. There's a trust factor that must be built.
Sometimes the first Citizens' Assemblies are hybrids of elected officials and randomly chosen citizens. For example, the Irish Constitutional Convention of 2012-14 , which opened the door to legalize same-sex marriage, was composed of 34 elected officials, and 66 randomly chosen citizens. That built trust with politicians. So the next Citizens Assembly in 2016, which opened the door for legalizing abortion under certain conditions, elected officials felt comfortable with 99 randomly chosen citizens, no elected officials.
Your contribution to everyone is of great value. Did you get a response from the Mayor? Is there any short term legal instrument we can use before businesses take legal action on the city? Something that can delay non-democratic decisions which the Mayor is an expert at.
I think we need more time to inform the residents the Mayor has been courting. He does a good job of of getting to his base of supporters.
With opposition, he has never yielded to the mass voters. The only reason the Marriott PEG project got delayed, is the planning department did not notify (by mistake) of the proposed PEG development. Therefore, they had to start all over again. The head of planning was suddenly gone and I believe Suzzanne Frick was put in charge before going to Kura.
The mayor does not respect democracy. He was very upset at a PEG meeting when I turned around to inform an overwhelming audience that the PEG project was tacitly approved before reaching Planning. Therefore, we need every tactic possible to stop someone who has never shown one ounce of willingness to do what the people want.
Thank you so much for your comment, Kevin. I have not brought this up with any local officials. I just wanted to introduce the idea of Citizens' Assemblies to the readership of KS to show how other local and national governments may be evolving to genuinely include citizens in a systemic way.
What you are describing is a "civic inclusion" systems problem that is virtually everywhere in the US--not just Ketchum. This does not have to be the case.
It is not the case for court juries that are empaneled to deliberate and come to conclusions about matters of life and death for example. In general, that kind of civic participation is very empowering and connects the community together over a shared civic "deliverable": justice. The same can be done for another civic "deliverable": policy.
You bring up another problem: government is constantly having to "start all over again," with each election. No continuum of "big issue" policy planning, just stop-start according to election cycle?
Sounds great except the way our officials are behaving, the last thing they want is community involvement. They seem to think they work for people and entities other than their constituents who live, pay taxes, and vote in Ketchum. They seem to think they work for out of state developers, corporations like Sun Valley Company, and 2nd/3rd homeowners.
Sadly, all true. But we have an election in 15 months and we can get rid of Bradshaw, Breen and Hamilton and vote in people who care about Ketchum. They are trying to do as much damage as they can in their time remaining. Our job is to slow them down.
Citizens Assemblies are a great way to involve the community in important decisions. It seems like a no-brainer for one of the cities or the county to do a trial run. How do we get one of these governments to do a trial run? Petition them?
If a city cites cost as a hurdle....could a non-profit, funded privately and run by volunteers perhaps organize and create a template, and then supply it's services to one of the cities or county? That way the city or county cannot cite cost or manpower as an obstacle.
Thanks for this suggestion. I am not an expert, but I have read up a bit on how different Citizens' Assemblies have operated. There are technical (for random selection, for example), organizational and other skills (facilitation) that are needed.
Just like the staff of our court system had to learn the specifics of convening a jury and a using a jury in a courtroom proceeding, the organizational and facilitation skills needed to run a Citizens' Assembly must be learned. Right now, communities that wish to run a Citizens' Assembly are assisted by groups like Healthy Democracy (non-profit that is helping Deschutes), MASS LBP (in Canada) and others in different places around the world. Deschutes Citizens' Assembly cost around $220,000 for their organizational expertise I think? That seems like a small fraction of a city's budget, considering the, long-term implications of significant policy decisions?
The current local governance model in the US is that a small group of administrators and elected officials self-educate and then move priorities and plans forward using highly-paid consultants. The larger community, with its combined life experience and knowledge, is left with one role: to react. Is this governance model upside down? What if elected officials could incorporate--upfront--the input of an informed, inclusive cross-section of the community?
You suggested that locals could become involved in organization and implementation in order to learn technical and organizational aspects, keep money in the community in the future? I wonder if Deschutes has incorporated that "local sustainability" aspect in its contract with Healthy Democracy?
This is an interesting idea. Diversity is key to good governance. The trick is getting the elected officials to get on board. You would think they would be open to an idea that would help them come to the best decisions for the people they serve...
You are right: the trick is to get elected officials on board. There's a trust factor that must be built.
Sometimes the first Citizens' Assemblies are hybrids of elected officials and randomly chosen citizens. For example, the Irish Constitutional Convention of 2012-14 , which opened the door to legalize same-sex marriage, was composed of 34 elected officials, and 66 randomly chosen citizens. That built trust with politicians. So the next Citizens Assembly in 2016, which opened the door for legalizing abortion under certain conditions, elected officials felt comfortable with 99 randomly chosen citizens, no elected officials.
Elizabeth,
Your contribution to everyone is of great value. Did you get a response from the Mayor? Is there any short term legal instrument we can use before businesses take legal action on the city? Something that can delay non-democratic decisions which the Mayor is an expert at.
I think we need more time to inform the residents the Mayor has been courting. He does a good job of of getting to his base of supporters.
With opposition, he has never yielded to the mass voters. The only reason the Marriott PEG project got delayed, is the planning department did not notify (by mistake) of the proposed PEG development. Therefore, they had to start all over again. The head of planning was suddenly gone and I believe Suzzanne Frick was put in charge before going to Kura.
The mayor does not respect democracy. He was very upset at a PEG meeting when I turned around to inform an overwhelming audience that the PEG project was tacitly approved before reaching Planning. Therefore, we need every tactic possible to stop someone who has never shown one ounce of willingness to do what the people want.
Thank you so much for your comment, Kevin. I have not brought this up with any local officials. I just wanted to introduce the idea of Citizens' Assemblies to the readership of KS to show how other local and national governments may be evolving to genuinely include citizens in a systemic way.
What you are describing is a "civic inclusion" systems problem that is virtually everywhere in the US--not just Ketchum. This does not have to be the case.
It is not the case for court juries that are empaneled to deliberate and come to conclusions about matters of life and death for example. In general, that kind of civic participation is very empowering and connects the community together over a shared civic "deliverable": justice. The same can be done for another civic "deliverable": policy.
You bring up another problem: government is constantly having to "start all over again," with each election. No continuum of "big issue" policy planning, just stop-start according to election cycle?
Sounds great except the way our officials are behaving, the last thing they want is community involvement. They seem to think they work for people and entities other than their constituents who live, pay taxes, and vote in Ketchum. They seem to think they work for out of state developers, corporations like Sun Valley Company, and 2nd/3rd homeowners.
Sadly, all true. But we have an election in 15 months and we can get rid of Bradshaw, Breen and Hamilton and vote in people who care about Ketchum. They are trying to do as much damage as they can in their time remaining. Our job is to slow them down.