As a minor-league elected official, I say this goes with the territory. We offer an opportunity for each taxpayer to speak or raise questions for two minutes at the meetings, and naturally all the soreheads and kooks sign up, as well as a smattering of people raising legitimate issues.
We listen to what they have to say as politely as possible, and then hold the meeting and vote on the agenda items. Anyone who doesn’t like it, you’re free to run - if you win, you’ll have a vote yourself. Nobody ever takes us up on this offer, as evidently going over complicated budgets and reading engineering reports is pretty boring, and it’s much easier just to complain.
We actually do need people, all the time. There are very few volunteers for unpaid positions that involve work and meetings.
‘Nobody ever takes us up on this offer, as evidently going over complicated budgets and reading engineering reports is pretty boring, and it’s much easier just to complain.’
geez, you’re breaking my heart...
Nobody ever takes us up——”. If you seem to be doing a good job you won’t get much “take up.”
Going back about 3 decades I got curious about how our local school board was operating. I started going and never missed a meeting for over 2 years. By then I was seeing a somewhat corrupt picture, hidden meetings, moving people to give raises, cushy non-classroom jobs, and a whole lot more.
I kept notes and had the books on them. Then I started explaining to others what I was finding. Some of them got more PO’d than I was. So we held a recall and threw them out in a landslide. This school district has been a model of stability ever since. about 30 years on. they remember.