Councilman had right idea with teen participation

We are disappointed the City Council chose to not even discuss a proposal by Councilman Greg Shelton to have high school students participate in local government.

Coming on the heels of a contentious debate on moving the city election from June to November and charging candidates $100 for their ballot statement, the council appeared to be in no mood to discuss the student participation issue. That is disgusting.

The petty disagreements on the dais have hurt the city and Tuesday night is a perfect example.

Shelton had asked the council to consider placing on the next agenda a discussion of allowing a representative of the City’s Youth Commission to sit with the City Council and participate in the council meetings.

However, the matter was not even discussed and was quickly voted down 3-2. Brian Ward scolded his fellow council members for not allowing the matter to be placed on the next agenda and voted in favor of doing so. Shelton refused to vote.

The City of Tulare and the City of Lindsay have programs where high school students are allowed to sit in on several meetings, including the city’s planning commission and the city council.

In Tulare, there is a representative of each high school and they are asked to give updates on happenings on their respective campuses, but are not voting members and only occasionally are asked their opinion. More importantly, they get a first-hand look at the workings of city government and right now in Tulare that is a much better lesson than they would get here.

This is not the first time a legitimate proposal has been put in front of the Porterville Council, only to get detoured by the council members’ lack of decorum. It is not the first time an argument has ruined the next item on the agenda — no matter the item — and there have been times when continued discourse has led to a blowup at some point, usually over a non-controversial item on the agenda.

We have written before of the problems on the dais and how at times the council is an embarrassment to the community. In this instance, the council is a major disappointment to the youth of this community.

We urge the council to reconsider the merits of having teens participate in city government. It is a good idea.

Having our young people see up close the workings of city government not only allows them a chance to decide if someday they may want to run for council. But in the short term it gives them a good idea if their city is being managed properly.

We also urge the council to take every matter independently of other items discussed and not let their decision be decided on which council member is proposing the idea.

Improvement is needed by all five council members because all five should be embarrassed by their actions, not just last week, but several times over the past two years.