Others have noticed the city council and city staff's lack of engagement with residents on issues that are important to many in Georgetown. Mr Carl Norris has penned a letter to the city and all media and local elected officials about Georgetown's practice of “mokusatsu”, a Japanese term meaning "silent contempt". That is an excellent description of how Paul Cartusciello, Bill Holland and John Montgomery were treated at the last city council meeting. Their concerns were not recognized or acknowledged and the council meeting was abruptly adjourned after they spoke. You can view the last video, item AP, at the September 8 City Council Meeting to see if you agree.
Some council members have said that the way to influence city policy is to engage council members and city staff privately. That is indeed one effective way to try to influence city policy, however, many people do not have the time to continually try and set up meetings or engage in telephone conversations with council members and staff as every one is busy and has many demands on their time. In addition, those kinds of interactions are not transparent to the press and residents of Georgetown and thus generate suspicion and mistrust of city officials. The city needs to develop an open and transparent mechanism for citizens to engage the council and staff periodically on issues that the residents think are important regarding the governance of Georgetown.
Mr Norris' letter describing his organizations treatment by the city council and staff follows:
Mr. Mayor and City Council,
A group of our ACC associates met on Monday, May 5, 2014 with Mr. David Fulton, Director, TxDOT AVN and Mr. Greg Miller, AVN Planning and Programming Director. We were advised regarding our concerns of lack of public participation for use of our federal tax funds for GTU improvements per the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) that the problem lay with our lack of communication with our city leaders. We responded that we had been engaged continually with our City Council and/or the GTAB for frank and open discussions for a free flow of information and citizen participation that so far had been denied to us. We stated we would continue with the hope that eventually our city leaders would listen to us with respect. However, since we began with our first presentation to City Council on January 14, 2014 to this day we have been met with an attitude by our leaders of what the Japanese term “mokusatsu”, or “silent contempt”, i.e. “to kill something by remaining silent about it”.
We respect the need to deprive the public open discussions during regular agenda meetings to prevent anarchy. However, to deprive the public from controlled, limited agenda workshops for open discussion with leaders and staff especially on federal funded issues is not good government. To ignore specific respectful public requests for staff information briefings at subsequent meetings especially on federal funded programs is not good government. For our leaders and staff to refuse to join with members of the public to discuss federal funded programs in meetings sponsored by prominent citizen leaders is not good government. To respond to such respectful requests with an attitude of “mokusatsu” regarding federal funded programs demonstrates a similar attitude toward the NEPA.
Attached is the statement made by an ACC associate to the GTAB at its September 10, 2015 monthly meeting. It is the 47th statement since January 14, 2014. GTAB reacted with “mokusatsu”. No workshop. No direction to staff for information at the meeting or the October meeting. No comments period! Mokusatsu has been the continued reaction of our city leaders throughout our past 20 months of requests for quality communications. .
This particular request for information regarding the GTU 2015 CIP is especially timely because this proposed federal grant program now composed of 25 projects or components is the center stage issue for the Fuel Farm (aircraft gas station) Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA). As you are aware, this DEA, the first in the over 36 year history of federal funding for the GTU, is currently going through its second round of community review and comment process. It has been revised from its March 2015 version of 80 pages to its current August 2015 version of 363 pages. The Fuel Farm is not the “proposed federal action” as stated therein. Rather, the proposed federal action is a 90% federal grant for the entire GTU 2015 CIP shown on page 360 with its total cost of about $10 Million. Federal taxpayer expenditures for this one proposed grant will be about 90% of the entire federal expenditures for the entire history of GTU federal grants completed as of this date. And yet, no one knows the details, purpose, and objectives of this multiple revised program or those that preceded it. You don’t know. The GTAB does not know. Our citizens don’t know. Our local press does not know nor do they seem interested to know.
It is respectfully requested that the city’s attitude of mokusatsu be abandoned regarding issue communications with the general public especially issues regarding expenditures of federal tax funds requiring compliance with the NEPA.
Respectfully,
Hugh (Carl) Norris
Member- Airport Concerned Citizens (ACC
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