Odgen's Policy. Does it allow their board to be more responsive to questions? Or does it limit comments? Or is it just limiting confrontation?

Personally, I think anyone should be allowed to speak anything during public comment. It doesn't mean the board has to respond. The Board can respond after comments if it is appropriate or get contact info and send a response that involves research.

I do wonder about if a comment is submitted before hand part of requiring them to bring an answer. Allowing both forms of ones that get answered no matter what (2-4 days notice) and also allowing a sounding board day of questions for a future meeting.

What do you think of requiring answers for prewritten questions? I can see some problems, and I can see some benefits.

What a great way to limit public commentary! It also works well for IT departments. I used to work for a company where my supervisor instructed me that if anyone had a complaint, request they email me. It worked great because even though the bugs in the system were obvious, it limited the negative feedback we received because most people were not angry enough to sit down and compose the emails. Even then, there was no guarantee the emails would be read or even responded to.

I can share an example from the open source community--how they handle user feedback, feature requests, and bug tracking:

First they provide a public forum where anyone can come and comment. There is no restriction other than to keep the discussion relevant and respectful--or be kicked out. Before you can comment, they require you to read the FAQs where official answers and research is posted. Anybody with a question that has already been answered in the FAQs is immediately interrupted with instructions to RTFM (read the fricking manual).

For those who have legitimate requests, there is a ticket tracking system that accepts and organizes all bug fix and new feature requests. This system ensures that every ticket is accounted for, allows for others with the same issue to comment on it, and public notice once the ticket has been closed.

A similar system could also be put in place for Ogden city. Let people comment, and require them to submit real issues to a public system that will allow everyone to see that a) the city is aware of the issue, b) how quickly it is being taken care of.

A public comment tracking system will ensure the City is held accountable--so they cannot shirk their responsiblities like our Senators do by encouraging everyone to email them, and select a category when you do, so their computer knows which templated response to send you in reply while the official safely ignores the bulk of the commentary [which, in his/her defense, is not always possible to absorb by one person alone].