The obvious answer is that it would lose and the majority will is to be ignored by the govt.

Any other theories?

Is a vote required?

We already had one...kinda.

just woulda liked one before they blew all our water bill money on a pipedream.

If municipal governments posed every question or project to a vote of the people, nothing would get done (and the cost of the elections would bankrupt the municipalities as well). The people elect local government to take care of such things so they can concern themselves with running their own lives. If one is not happy with local government, vote and run for office.

In answer to Sooner's question - no, one was not required.

Here's the thing. A lot of things do not require voting. So you have to pick wisely for who you want in office. IT does impact things.

quote:

Originally posted by tammylynwilson:
In answer to Sooner's question - no, one was not required.

Tammy, why can't the city webmaster just set up a public voting booth online so you can really get a feel for what the city wants on ANY issue ? No matter how boring or tedious it is.
It could allow you to hit the nail on the head every time for this community.
Cut down on the complaints and make certain that
the council gets elected again to run the city for another term.
Way cheaper than holding any election.

quote:

Originally posted by John Galtism:

quote:

Originally posted by tammylynwilson:
In answer to Sooner's question - no, one was not required.

Tammy, why can't the city webmaster just set up a public voting booth online so you can really get a feel for what the city wants on ANY issue ? No matter how boring or tedious it is.
It could allow you to hit the nail on the head every time for this community.
Cut down on the complaints and make certain that
the council gets elected again to run the city for another term.
Way cheaper than holding any election.

Unfortunately the cost of setting up an online voting system and issuing every Enid voter with a log on ID and password would be prohibitive. Add to that the fact that not everyone has Internet access or know how to navigate online, and the billions of ways the system could be hacked makes the possibility unviable. In a perfect world it would be nice though.

A few years ago, the ENE helped the city promote ward meetings between the commissioners and their constituents. They worked out pretty well and there was pretty good attendance. We'd be happy to do that again, if all the city commissioners would commit to holding at least one ward meeting a year.

One would think that there would be at least one if not two ward meetings a year.

When we helped the city and commissioners promote it a few years ago, we provided stories and some other promotion to help get the word out. I think it would be great to do again since we have a new mayor and several new commissioners. And, since there is so much going on in the city.

I think most of us are willing to have them and in fact want to have them, but there is some hesitation because no one wants to just be a punching bag. We're all aware that holding a public office invites criticism and I'm fine with that, but the public meetings have to be moderated and kept on track and not just a place for everyone to come yell at people.

As I recall, none of the ward meetings back then turned into a punching bag situation. However, that was before the downtown project.

Yet, if there REALLY are so many of your constituents against the downtown project, you'd certainly know for sure if they showed up at a ward meeting. What you hear from now, I suspect, are a few, vocal people.

The city commissioner should certainly set the agenda for discussion and have a set time for the meeting, such as one hour or an hour and a half. Yet, I would hope they wouldn't be afraid of dealing with criticism if it came up.

I was at a town hall meeting when Eric was presenting something and it did indeed turn into a two hour let's bash Benson meeting rather than being productive. That's been a while back and it was over a proposed bond issue.

I'm willing to do them and I think most of the other are, too.