Why isn't Mayor Walsh following his own guidelines for Citizen input?

When Denny Walsh first ran for mayor, he campaigned on allowing citizens the ability to publicly comment on any agenda item at a meeting. He went as far as publishing this on the top of the council agenda, "The public is invited to address the council regarding any item on the regular agenda. If your topic is not on the agenda, you may speak during the Public Comments section.”

Now that he has been mayor for seven years, after changing the mayor’s term from two to four years, he stopped taking public comments on the agenda items many years ago.

Citizens are frustrated they do not have any way to voice their opinion as well as share valuable concerns that the council should hear.

Walsh does not allow public comments on agenda issues, he does not hold town halls on important topics and he suppresses or denies citizens viewpoints from the few times he allowed comments cards.

Mayor Walsh brags about “citizens 1st” in his newsletter column but it appears the only citizens he places first are the ones that agree 100% with him. For the other concerned voices he practices “citizen suppression”.

Ask Mayor Walsh to survey Citizens. Ask Mayor Walsh to include Citizens in our government processes. #timeforchange for more see https://youtu.be/llcEBo_vqAs?feature=shared

#togetherwearebetter @friendsoforono City of Orono, Minnesota Government