SEQUIM — A year of talking has led at last to Sequim Speaks, a citizens’ advisory panel open to people who live inside and outside this city’s limit.
A town-hall-style meeting to explain Sequim Speaks — which the city newsletter calls a “citizen participation opportunity” — will take place at the Guy Cole Convention Center at Carrie Blake Park, 202 N. Blake Ave., tonight.
Doors will open at 5:45 p.m. so attendees may sign in and be seated according to their neighborhoods, said Don Hall, one of the meeting’s organizers.
The meeting will get under way at 6:30 p.m.
Idea posed in 2008
Early in 2008, City Council member Ken Hays advanced the idea of a group that would serve as a kind of electrocardiogram for this changing town. Volunteer members from all walks of life would meet to exchange ideas on the issues of the moment, and then send a spokesperson to relay those views to the council.
Hays helped form a pre-Sequim Speaks group last year, to hash out how many people would serve on the panel and other logistical matters.
That early group met for months, and finally last November, Mayor Laura Dubois and City Attorney Craig Ritchie signed a resolution authorizing formation of Sequim Speaks as a 15- to 22-member committee.
Since then, Sequim’s city staff and council have been enmeshed in all manner of tasks, from hiring interim City Manager Linda Herzog to contending with the economic meltdown.
Hall, a former Sequim City Council member, along with other members of the planning group, are eager to host the first Sequim Speaks gathering.
Hall said the new panel affords an opportunity for people who aren’t inclined to go to the podium at a City Council meeting.
“There are people who are shy, and they have opinions but they don’t want to talk in public,” he added.
Sequim Speaks members will talk among themselves about once a month, and send just one representative to meet with the council.
At the same time, the panel will not be a closed system, added Pat Johansen, another organizer.
“Anyone can reach out to the group, just for a sense of community,” she said.
A developer, for example, could take a proposed project to a Sequim Speaks meeting for feedback.
This group’s members will be advisers, not legislators, Johansen said. They will provide insights to the council, which enacts and amends city ordinances.
Those who are interested in Sequim Speaks but cannot attend tonight’s meeting can visit the city’s Web site, www.ci.Sequim.wa.us, for application information or phone City Hall at 360-683-4139.
________
Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
