City Commission Work Session on ITN responses to fix failed business plan at the Casino complex

A full to overflowing crowd packed the Commission Chambers, the adjacent conference and the hallway last night to hear presentations by two respondents from the City's Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) process last night. I got there just past 4:30 p.m. to secure a spot and other people were already there who had the same idea. It may be a good idea to check the lunar calendar when scheduling meetings like this one. Having it on the eve of a full moon may not have been the best idea. Emotions ran high throughout and there was little indication of the Commission's willingness to go forward with either of the options proposed.

Here's a note on the status of the video I took. I was able to capture most of the meeting until the battery ran out at around 9 p.m. When I get back from meetings where I take video am usually able to start uploading them right to YouTube and they're ready to publish in the morning. Things are working now but there were a few bugs that prevented most of the upload from happening last night, so those will come later in the day. Here is a short one that did upload:

You can see the short video I took above prior to the meeting and the crowd that was assembled. You can see bosom buddies JoAnn Golden and Dennis Dorsey cutting it up against the wall. Those two have such a good time when they get together. 

Things started out a little rocky with a discussion regarding how public comment was to be accommodated during the meeting. First of all, this was a work session and the City Commission usually doesn't allow public comment in that sort of format. So, it was a gift that public comment was going to be allowed at all. The Mayor suggested that comments from the public be limited to questions that would be answered in real time, right after asking the question, by the respondents.

Limiting comment in this way generated some "push back" from some commissioners, so the normal two minute limit would apply and people were able to pretty much say whatever they wanted about the proposals without being limited to questions only. However, most people did take the Mayor's suggestion and were able to ask questions and the respondents to the ITN were able to answer. There were some instances when the questions became rhetorical and some had a sarcastic tone, which is never really helpful.

More later as the videos are ready. There were some high points of the meeting along with some cringe-worthy ones. While it was a good thing to engage the residents in this way, the venue needed to be larger. Some day, I would like to see the current city hall building revert back to its original use as an auditorium that could provide seating for a larger crowd. Hopefully, we'll be able to see that in our lifetimes.