Minutes 01/08/2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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January 8, 2013 City Council has always encouraged the public to contact City staff and to address City Council regarding matters of public concern. However, some non-agenda speakers, instead of using the televised forum for the primary purpose of informing Council, are instead abusing this opportunity for the purpose of displaying unprofessional conduct and matters that are not a public concern. In order to refocus the non-agenda speaker portion of Council's agenda to a communication by the speaker to the City Council, City Council has decided to no longer televise the non-agenda speakers' portion of its meetings beginning with tonight's meeting. Any citizen who wishes to address Council on a matter that is not part of Council's regular agenda may continue to do so, under the same five-minute Council rule. The only change will be that the citizen's comments will not be televised by the City. Matters that require a response will either be addressed at the same meeting or made the subject of a report to Council at a later meeting. It has been, and continues to be, City Council's practice to provide a prompt response through City Ombudsman Bernadette Hogge to each citizen who appears before Council with a matter of public concern. 1. Jim Finnegan, 4601 High Street, West, voiced his concern with the calculation of Portsmouth Supplemental Retirement System (PSRS), with the fact that it's calculated at the age of 65 and with the loss of cost of living. 2. Betty Ashberry, 5218 Cobble Hill Road, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 3. Pat Simons, 801 Mimosa Road, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 4. Steve Carroll, 3112 Riveredge Drive, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 5. Delores Knight, 33 Kennedy Drive, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 6. Clyde Toler, 1029 Blair Street, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 7. Nelson Velez, 5772 Churchland Boulevard, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 8. Luke McCoy, 3408 Canterbury Drive, asked that City Council be committed to leadership and working as a team with citizens. 9. Donna Sayegh, 3104 Garland Drive, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. 10. Bruce Ballard, 1204 Marsh Wren Circle, asked that River Point Drive be made a no parking zone. 11. Tony Goodwin, 38 Linden Avenue, congratulated the new Councilmember and voiced his concern with the loss of business in the downtown area. 12. Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky, P. O. Box 50141, spoke in opposition to City Council's decision to not televise non-agenda speakers. On motion, meeting adjourned at 9:04 p.m.