LETTER: City disregarding citizens' rights

I would like to address the Colusa City Council meeting of May, 15.

It states on the agenda that members of the public are allowed 3 minutes for comments. The mayor said this meeting would be open for public comment. 

The first speaker, as though rehearsed, to get up was the attorney for The Riverbend Estates project.  They were not on the agenda, but in the staff report of the city manager, last paragraph, she states applicant may wish to present to council with a revised project, or supplement information previously provided to the project. 

On the whiteboard on the wall there was an outline of some of the issues and the process of CEQA events. It was the attorney for Riverbend who did the presentation. So that suggests they knew they would be allowed to talk and present information. Yet the citizens of Colusa would only be allowed 3 minutes, and Riverbend took up most of the time. The mayor or city attorney did not stop them. 

When one citizen wanted to speak, she was told she could not, and the citizen pointed out that they allowed the Riverbend attorney time and the Riverbend applicant had time to speak at length as well. It was very clear to the citizens this was out of order according to the agenda policy on public speaking. It also suggests that they had it all planned beforehand.

Also, it was on the agenda to vote on the resolution - not to change it because it was already approved by a 5-0 vote at the meeting in April. Why the arbitrary changes?

Councilwoman Hosmer said the citizens incorrectly considered this project dead. We have never considered it dead. As usual, she was wrong, as was she on the issue of the planning meeting’s scheduled nights. It is Wednesday, not Thursday. 

Mr. Selover, on the Planning Commission, has more ethics in his little finger than some of the council members who critized him of his appointment. Seems to me the District Attorney should look into this issue of the practices of the council on allowing citizens their rights. 

As usual we could count on Councilmen Kirk Kelleher and Tom Reische to be for the citizens. Sorry the mayor did not see that the citizens were acknowledged more and given more consideration.
 
Jackie Wisler
Colusa