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Show How not to hold public meeting The handful of interested residents who attended a public hearing last week on the implementation program for Utah County's proposed "Vehicle Emission Inspection Maintenance Program" saw bureaucracy in action. The meeting did little other than to frustrate those who attended and remove government one more step from the people. Initially it seemed as though county officials were seeking some public comment on a plan that will require virtually all Utah County residents to undergo annual auto emmission tests to make sure the cars aren't polluting the air too much. Those attending felt like this might be a chance for them to say they thought the program was a waste of time and money, and why don't we just get rid of it. In fact, the meeting had nothing to do with whether or not there will be such a program. That was given long before last Wednesday's meeting. Starting next July, Utah County residents will have to have their car's emissions tested before the car can be registered. Actually, it was pretty hard to tell just what the meeting was for. At the outset, Dr. Joseph K. Miner, the director of the Utah County Health Department, read a brief bit of convoluted English which more or less meant that the meeting was called to order, and then asked if anyone had any comment. "Isn't there going to be some kind of presentation?" one of the members of the audience asked, voicing the feeling of many there. But the few individuals who attended were told, rather curtly, that the implementation program had been available for inspection at the county courthouse since July 16, and if the individuals were really interested, they would have picked up a copy of the report read it so they could comment intelligently on the contents. The situation was vaguely reminiscent of a scene from Douglas Adam's science fiction satire, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." The novel opens with the earth being approached by several alien space ships intent on destroying the planet to make way for a hyperspacial express route through the star system." In response to the hue and cry of individuals facing imminentdestruction, the earthlings are told, also quite curtly, "All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display in your local planning departments in Alpha Centauri for fifty of your Earth years, so you've had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it's far too late to start making a fuss about it now." So it was at last Wednesday's meeting. , -. The individuals at last week's public hearing were told they should have waded through some 47 pages of often incomprehensible text so they could suggest ways to improve the written plan. No simplified summary of the plan was prepared or presented, and it should have been. No formal presentation was made explaining what the program entailed, and it should have been. Instead, complaints and concerns were listened to and then dismissed - since they were not the topic of the hearing. This is no way to involve the public in decisionmaking. decision-making. Local involvement was sought after the fact, and after it could make any difference. It was a frustrating experience for individuals who attended out of concern and then learned that they would make no difference. Such hearings kill the public-spirited public-spirited approach to problems that local governments should be working to foster. And they removed the public one step further from a process that, by design, should be operated for them and by them. In short, last week's public was hearing the kind that gives such meetings a bad name, and keeps the people who should be in the audience away in droves. |
