City Council meetings can be intimidating — the formal procedure, the motions, resolutions and ordinances, even the council members and administrators.
But Marysville City Council has created a brochure to help new attendees feel at ease an understand the process.
“It is important for people to know they can come in and be involved and how they can be involved and know they can make a difference, and know how they can make a difference and who to go to help make a change in their community,” said Rebecca Dibble, City of Marysville clerk of council.
Dibble and council member Henk Berbee worked together to create the four-page pamphlet. Berbee said that when came onto council, there was no manual for new members.
“There was nothing for me, no information for me as a council member, what I should do and know, Berbee said.
He said he started assembling a council orientation manual which was completed and adopted in September 2015/
Berbee said the booklet contains, “the steps we would like you to go through,” so new council members will be “up to speed.” The manual encourages members to read the city charter, meet with the city manager as well as executive staff in each department, tour each of the city facilities, attend every committee meeting at least once, attend trainings about the Ohio Sunshine Laws, complete the Ohio Ethics Commission financial report and other administrative steps.
He said that manual was very helpful because, he said, there were times when new members were confused about things like the difference between an ordinance and a resolution (an ordinance is a permanent rule of action and a resolution is council’s stamp of approval on less permanent action items).
Berbee said he began to notice that many visitors, especially boy and girl scouts working on civics badges, were also confused.
Dibble said it was little wonder. She said many of the students coming to the meetings haven’t had had any real civics classes that cover local government, “so it is a new concept to them and it can all seem so formal.”
“On occasion, I would ask the mayor if I could take five minutes or so to talk to the boy scouts and tell them about what is happening at council,” Berbee said.
Dibble said last year a group from the Youth Action League spoke to council about vaping. That group reminded council members haw influential and important students can be in the legislative process.
Dibble said items for inclusion on the flyer — things like a ward map, how legislation works, them make up and structure of council and meetings — were intentional. She said she wanted to make the legislative process seem more “personal” to the readers and residents. She added that even the wording was intentional, “to make sure you don’t lose the goal and the content.”
At a recent meeting, Council Member and Mayor J.R. Rausch praised the flyer.
“We have never really had anything like this before and this is great,” he said, specifically mentioning the work Dibble and Berbee did preparing it.
Berbee said the flier can act as “a segue to local government.”
“Younger people see the agenda and they have a better understanding,” Berbee said. “It makes it more of a living, breathing experience.
He added, “we want them to see it that way so they know what we are doing so that in the future, they can be part of that as well.”