LM civic associations discuss meeting conduct with officials

The culmination of response letters to the editor in the Main Line Times over Lower Merion board meeting conduct occurred at the Federation of Lower Merion Civic Association Feb. 13 meeting, where township officials and residents held a dialogue.

"Often times, the township staff are busy doing their own thing, and the public has no idea what's going on," Federation President Hugh Gordon said. "The result sometimes suffers from this sort of thing."

Commissioner Daniel Bernheim accompanied Board of Commissioners President Liz Rogan to the meeting, which Rogan was invited to in order to have a dialogue with Federation members and members of the public on the frustrations and possible remedies to meeting conduct complaints.

Several members of the Federation and Lower Merion public wrote and signed letters published in the Main Line Times on Jan. 20 over two incidents at the Dec. 21 board meeting, where Commissioner Cheryl Gelber's friendly amendment and comments regarding an agenda item were rejected and abruptly cut off, and Commissioner Lewis Gould was refused a response from Township Manager Cleland in regards to the 2012 budget until he provided all of his questions up front.

At the meeting Monday night, Bernheim said he was partially to blame for Gelber getting cut off, since he said he prodded Property Committee Chair Commission Richard Churchill to act when Gelber attempted to pass an amendment over the township's purchase of land from Belmont Hills that was already voted down.

Liz Rogan spoke next, bringing up the length of meetings.

"One of the federation's biggest issues was the length of time of the meetings and not being able to have a ton of time for public participation," Rogan said.

Rogan added that for the sake of time and getting to vote on the 2012 budget, she wanted to know all of Gould's questions so that he could get responses and have time for follow-up, if necessary.

Rogan said that she thought Gould usually asks very cogent questions, but the incident on Dec. 21 was over basic questions that could have been discussed with township personnel prior to the meeting.

"If we are to have the ability for substantive discussion, every commissioner needs to come prepared to cogently discuss their decision, or to debate a particular issue," Rogan added.

A number of people sitting in the meeting room at the Bryn Mawr Community Center thought Rogan's preparation statement was counterproductive.

Joan Hindin of the Shortridge Civic Association in Wynnewood said regardless of commissioner preparation, questions such as Gould's on the budget were relevant to the public.

"Sometimes those questions prompt something in others' minds, and lead to other important questions," Hindin said.

Rogan reiterated that if the township wants meetings managed, balance is required to get through a long agenda, particularly so the board can get to public comment.

Merion Park resident Ralph Grasso rose from his seat to share his thoughts.

"This issue is about courtesy," he said. "There's a lot of rancor and animosity for people on the board…the scale goes both ways."

Teri Simon, president of the Wynnewood Civic Association, told Rogan and Bernheim she commended them for their courage to come to a meeting over the way they handle conduct. She said she believed Grasso's remarks reflected the frustration felt throughout much of the Lower Merion community.

"At every level in society today, we have this egregious lack of civility," Simon said. "The exchange with Gould [at the Dec. 21 meeting] was representational of that."

Simon suggested the board adopt some sort of civility standard, as well as look at agenda management for possible ways of reducing time. The Wynnewood Civic Association president suggested the two commissioners look at the building and planning committee meeting agenda, which she said had the lengthiest agenda of the committees.

Simon concluded that there was a lot of distrust of the board because of the kind of communication Rogan suggested about asking township personnel agenda-related questions before public meetings. She cited the City Avenue Rezoning Ordinance, passed in December, as an example of that distrust.

Neither Rogan nor Bernheim commented on the City Avenue Rezoning Ordinance example, but Bernheim said he blamed all 14 commissioners for the behavior on Dec. 21, and that the source of that animosity – which he felt wasn't a frequent occurrence – was from the individual passions and perceptions of each commissioner involved.

Rogan said that land development issues could possibly be delegated to the Planning Commission to free up building and planning, and that the board would look into it.

Commissioner Jenny Brown, who was sitting with the meeting's audience members along with Gould, offered another suggestion about making meetings more efficient, namely that agenda items need to be examined for whether or not they are ready for the board.

"Many agenda items come to the board before they are prepared to be discussed," she said. "I can name hundreds of those kinds of items that wasted hours and hours of our time…I think meetings would go much better if looked at that."

Before departing, Rogan and Bernheim said they'd look into the suggestions made.

"There's only one potential result of this discussion, and that's improvement," Bernheim said. "The system can always use improvement."

The next board meeting is Feb. 15 at 8 p.m.