Gilbert Town Council will discuss a couple flash points from recent meetings at its April 2 meetngs.
The council has a 4:30 p.m. study session that includes a discussion on the Office of Digital Government. It will include the department's scope, mission, public messaging, post content, funding and name of office. ODG is Gilbert's marketing and communications team.
The business meeting at 6:30 p.m. also includes a public hearing on a possible amendment to town code related to council's rules of order and procedure.
The ODG discussion comes after a January article on a conservative website brought up charges from 2021 that the office was used to spy on employees and control their speech. The article used anonymous sources, and the author did not contact the town for response.
Nonetheless, it brought a group out from the Arizona Legislative District 14 Republican Party to protest ODG during the "communications from citizens" portions of the Jan. 23 meeting.
The charges from 2021 had been independently investigated and found meritless.
Nonetheless, Councilmember Jim Torgeson said the office should be reviewed, and eventually Councilors Chuck Bongiovanni and Bobbi Buchli signed on to ask for a study session, though Bongiovanni strongly defended ODG during the Feb. 6 meeting.
The call for reviewing council's rules of order and procedures comes after more than two years where the council has, at times, struggled to keep control of its meetings when sensitive issues have been brought up.
In addition to the ODG protest, council previously has had trouble with the audience in discussions about the possibility of commuter rail in Gilbert and a light-industrial development in the Morrison Ranch area.
Council previously discussed possible changes during a study session, and the item coming back from staff Tuesday will reflect that discussion.
The changes include:
Requiring the mayor or three council members requesting an item to be agendized to first meet with the town manager to discuss/coordinate the scope and timeline of the proposed agenda item.
Codifying the procedures and time limits on communications from residents for consistency purposes.
Codifying the public hearing process to follow the process already set forth in the land development code.
Formally adopting rules of decorum for public meetings.
Repealing the town’s adoption of Robert's Rules of Order and replacing them with a simplified set of rules of procedure that will apply to all public meetings of the town.
But the town's discussion, particularly around limiting time for communications from citizens and on the rules of decorum, have sparked some criticism that the town is trying to silence the public.
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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