Community Code of Conduct During Public Meetings
Taking John's lead from a posting in the garbage strike topic forum, I thought I'd start a thread to discuss, as a community, a code of conduct that is respectful to furthering dialogue on any issue so a compromise may be reached. If WE as a community discuss conduct ahead of time, perhaps we can avoid angry outbursts that shut down dialogue rather then encourage it.
I'll start with a few questions that hopefully others may answer and perhaps we can end up with a list that we can agree on and post-up or hand-out during the next public meeting.
Copy and paste of John's questions:
1. What sort of conduct should WE as a community find acceptable during public meetings?
2. How do WE as a group respond when one or two people escalate an issue to shouting and name-calling?
3. How do we calm things down so that BOTH SIDES are heard and the issue at hand doesn't become a win or lose situation?
4. How do WE as a group encourage COMPROMISE?
thoughts based on past meetings
It would be really great if at meetings there was a vote taken where everybody agreed to:
1. Speak one at a time at the mic or when given the floor
2. No shouting from the back over speakers or the person with the floor
3. Keep questions and comments brief so more can speak
4. Not dismiss others ideas based on how long they have lived in the area, whether they are renters or owners, or any other criteria
5. Keep comments to the point at hand rather than using up meeting time rehashing the same worn out platitudes such as "the City doesn't do anything for us", "judges are too soft on crime" that we have been hearing year after year; stay on topic
6. make sure that everybody who wishes to speak has a chance before people get to speak a second time
As hard as it is the MC or host really need to take control and help keep the meeting stay on track and like all meetings sometimes that means limiting the scope of discussion to stay on track.
Meeting Process
These are all great ideas. Thanks for getting the ball rolling. Distributing meeting rules or a protocol sheet to everyone as they arrive at public meetings, then holding a vote at the beginning of the proceedings might be an excellent way to clearly establish some order.