Commission retreat: Tell it how it is

The town of Los Gatos held the annual council/commission retreat April 14th, 2007. It ran from 8:15am to 12:30pm. Within the time frame, several commissions convened with the Los Gatos Town Council. While most people from the different commissions would arrive at their meeting time, talk, and leave afterwards, I decided to stay the entire duration of the meeting.

I have taken notes of the event, detailing out Council meeting, Community Services commission meeting, and the Youth commission meeting.

Issue: Comissioners are on third party boards.
They wear the hat of the town, but hold interests above the town.
Does the compromised individual knowingly or unknowingly affect the balance of power?

Opening suggestion from Council: recuse comissioners, but leave as is.
This is an ethical issue, as well as a potential conflict of interest.
However, everyone has the intentions of representing a specific group.

Diane McNutt - It is a question of awareness
Mayor Pirzinski - They volunteer, and that represents something.
Suggestion: Raise the consequences.
Counter: Policy may be too heavy handed.
Steve Glickman - This may not need a policy change. Only it should be added to Conflict of Interest forms.

Issue: Commissioners feel council is unapproachable.

Apparently casual conversation from council members was mistaken as formal direction to comissioners.
As a consequence, a seperation between Council and Commissioner occurred. However this is not a "gag order" but a suggestion. In addition, Comissioners feel that they must talk to a staff member to communicate to the council.
Pirzinski explains there is no "gag order". However, he encourages staff-commissioner communication to make it easier for advice, requests, and comments to make it to the Council.

S. Glickman noted the Nuclear family is in danger, and there is a startling increase in "latch-key kids". Afterall, not everyone gets a BMW, and not everyone can get fed. The youth are under estimated, and are an "at risk" population.

The Council meeting ended and began meeting with other commisions. Eventually the Community Services Commission was called. Although I was unable to take notes during the actual meeting, I wrote down some of it later. The council was pleased with my initiative to join the CSC. They asked me about my experience in the Community Services Commission and how it influenced my life. I rapidly related to the them the scope of our work, what it was like giving out funding to organizations that service the Los Gatos community, from Elder care to Homeless shelters to abuse recovery. Young men and women of today are a significant percentage of the United States population. Many are of voting age, yet they don't vote. Teens today feel alienated from the government (local and national), even if it influences how they live. I found that being on the CSC brought me into the community. I saw the Community Emergency Response Teams prepare for any cataclysm. I saw the faces of the people who needed more funds to care for our community. I realized the problems of many things us teens take for granted. The CSC opened my eyes to the life of Los Gatos, and I feel it will be the same for many. I said we need more teen involvement in Town government. Not just on the Youth, or the Parks, or even the Community Services commissions, but all of them. In order for our democracy to work, we must harness the young population. One way is opening local government and encouraging teens to join.