This is purely a local issue. But it’s a hot button for me.

I have long been an advocate of a “Springdale Public Forum”. This is a pretty great community as it is, but I think it could be better if we had a better way to come together with common understanding of common problems and issues. For example, I recently received a forwarded email about the Rockville/Springdale Fire Department. It seems that there is a proposal to double the fee we all pay to keep it going. There weren’t any details in the email. Just a date when the issue will be discussed and a name and email address of a person you can send questions to. That person will probably get a lot of the same questions asked over and over again.

This is an ideal example of something that could be cleared up before the meeting by using the online technology available today. The way it works now is that people get together in little clusters and talk about it. When the meeting actually comes around, just clearing up the false ideas that those little clusters invent will probably be a big challenge. Getting to some sort of consensus about the right thing to do may be impossible in just one meeting.

Currently, the process of information about public issues is fragmented and inconsistent. These are the ways that we get information now.

• Personal conversations
• Various “meetings” – Town Council, Planning Commission and meetings like the Rockville/Springdale Fire Department Board Meeting
• The Post Office bulletin board (An important source of news!)
• Emails
• The Springdale web site

The people who run this town say they really would like more public participation in town affairs. We hold elaborate affairs just to get their input. The recent “General Plan Barbecue” is a great example. We basically threw a town party just so we could get people to express their opinions about what ought to be in the town’s General Plan. But we’re not willing to step out of the mold of announced meetings of some sort and the fact is, most of the formal meetings are deserted. Nobody shows up. That ought to be a red flag that something is wrong and needs to be fixed … but it isn’t.

I run the Planning Commission and I’m very sensitive to the fact that there are strict state laws that govern what can be said, who can say it, and when it can be said in formal meetings. The format is just not good for creating understanding about what’s really going on. It’s great for making decisions efficiently but it leaves people “in the dark” about why decisions are made the way they are. During the General Plan Barbecue, it was plain to me that most people just didn’t understand why some controversial decisions had been made. As a Commissioner, I would still have to be careful about what I posted in an online forum. But – as nearly as I can tell – I would really only have to avoid comments about current applications where applicants have a legally protected right to a decision made in a formal setting with specific rules that protect those rights. If a question concerned anything that was not the subject of a current application, I believe I could explain myself freely and that people have a right to know. If it concerned a Town Ordinance, I don’t think there’s any problem discussing it. And people who are not officials could say whatever they like.

With a Springdale Public Forum, meetings could be announced and the major topics listed in a place that has “one stop information shopping” for all members of our community. A brief explanation … such as “Why we need the increase.” … could be included. Then other members of the Zion Canyon Community could leave messages with questions and comments about it. As an example, I’ll bet there are people out there who know exactly what’s going on with the Fire Department. They could explain what they know for the benefit of the rest of us. My “guess” about it is that the emergency medical services that we enjoy here are very expensive to maintain, especially with our limited population base. My “guess” is that the Board has concluded that we have to either buck up with more money or cut back the level of service that we claim to provide. But what do I know? My only source of information right now requires me to take the time of the underappreciated person with citizen responsibility for the Fire Department. And then I only get that one point of view.

I like to use the phrase, “public and accountable” when I discuss my idea. A lot of people might think a “Springdale Forum” would be like the ones that you see in media web sites where people call each other names and only nut cases seem to post messages. (In fairness, some forums have intelligent, well-reasoned commentary. I like to think that the people who write comments to this site are a pretty good bunch.) In my vision, a Springdale Public Forum would be owned and operated by the Town of Springdale. People would be required to have a login and password to access the site and they would have to use their real names, not an alias. That alone would do a lot to help the forum be “public and accountable”. Citizens of Springdale, and the Zion Canyon community in general (Rockville and Virgin), would be automatically part of the Forum. Other people could gain access by applying but we could turn down anybody who doesn’t really have a reason to sign up to keep it focused and targeted on our own issues.

For reasons I don’t fully understand, I’m getting very little traction with my idea. I’ve even located a source of grant money that could be used to develop the forum, but nobody seems willing to touch the idea. People actually seem to be afraid of it. It might be because years ago, Springdale had a pretty bad experience with town governance. The Town became polarized and people on opposite sides of issues became nasty to the point of attacking each other’s property. I didn’t live here at the time, but the papers in Salt Lake actually printed articles about Springdale politics in a sort of “News of the Wierd” way. To the great credit of the people to live here, an attitude of “first of all, let’s get along together” has become a foundation principal here now. I give our former mayor, Phillip Bimstein, a lot of the credit for making that positive change happen.

A “public and accountable” Springdale Public Forum can be as friendly, helpful, and courteous as any other format. It could also be a lot more effective. ColorComments.com is not the right place to discuss Springdale issues, but it might be a place to start on this one. I’d really like to read what other people in Springdale think about this idea in the comments