Dear Editor,
I was a little disappointed with the Register’s coverage of last week’s Ward 4 meeting with councilmen Ken Rowe and Steve French, as there were many pointed questions from across the audience covering the recent survey of city employees published in the Register, the Westar meeting that Mr. Rowe and Mr. Callahan set up, and the firing of Judy Brigham, none of which was reported.
There was also much constructive discussion at the meeting; two of the ideas discussed were conducting a wider survey of all city employees (as opposed to just department heads), so that council can better understand and support city employees, and second, establishing some standing committees on the council. This way, if the council needs to meet in smaller groups in order to work more efficiently, those meetings will be on the record and the public can provide feedback to committee members.
I hope that the council follows up on both of these suggestions, and I would urge others to contact your council representatives, and Mayor Shirley, to voice support for a survey of city employees and for the establishment of standing committees.
Holly Slawkowski,
Iola, Kansas
