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City will host public gatherings

FAIRMONT — At the Fairmont City Council meeting this week, Mayor Debbie Foster expressed her desire to hear more from members of the community.

To that end, she has been talking with City Administrator Mike Humpal about holding community meetings throughout town this year.

“I [want] to be able to leave City Hall and go out throughout our community, to each one of our four wards,” she said.

“I [prefer] it to be on Saturday because I know that there are people who work on Saturdays, but it [seems] to me to be a time that we could maybe get more people there. I [want] for city senior staff to be there because I [want] it to be an opportunity for me and council members to come and just listen. So Mike and I brainstormed about the possibility, and he told me right away that he approved of this, and we needed to do this.

“So we’ve come up with four different meeting times throughout 2018 that we will go to each one of the four wards in town. A city staff member will give a very small presentation on a certain subject, and after that it is going to be time for open discussion. There won’t be any mics or anything intimidating for some people, and it’s just going to be a chance to listen, for us, and for questions to be answered.”

The first meeting will be 10-11 a.m. March 17 at the Knights of Columbus Hall, concentrating on Ward 4. The person giving the presentation will be city planner/code enforcement technician Megan Boeck, who will talk about how the city handles City Code violations.

“Each one of the meetings are going to be posted so that if every council person wants to come, we are not in violation of the open meeting law,” Foster said. “It’s just a warm invitation extended to each council person to attend.”

Foster said the meetings will be posted on the city’s Facebook page and website, as well as through various advertisements. She noted that although the meetings will be held in each ward, they will be open to everyone.

She said Humpal will be in attendance, in addition to senior city staff.

“Again, it’s just a listening time and a time for the community to share thoughts that they have, what they like about the town, their concerns about the town, or a subject they want to know more about,” Foster said. “I look forward to seeing you there and members of the community, and for all of us to learn from that.”

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