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Ashland considers citizen service plan By DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- Adoption of a citizen participation plan was put off Tuesday because of a miscommunication -- the city sent out the wrong plan to a number of interested people. But those who read the real draft plan and spoke to the council Tuesday said the city has done a fine job of devising a plan to involve more people in city government. "This is an excellent step to improving and bringing to light citizen's involvement," said Brice Farwell, one of two Ashland residents who spoke in favor of the draft plan. Council members Don Laws, Carole Wheeldon and David Fine worked with city staff members to develop the draft plan that was presented at council Tuesday. Under the plan, the city would follow the policies for a year, then evaluate the results in January 2001. To determine the current status of citizen participation, questionnaires were sent to all 117 regular commission members and 57 members of nine recent ad hoc committees. The city got 63 responses. "While most of the questionnaires were positive, there were a number that expressed doubt that the city truly values public participation," Administrative Services director Dick Wanderscheid wrote in his staff report. Concerns were generally in one of three groups: that the council does not follow the advice of citizen committees; that the decision is already made before citizens become involved; and that while the council and staff tolerate citizen participation, they do not value it. The citizen participation plan is a pledge to allow citizen participation in decision making because collaboration of people of different backgrounds can create better solutions to problems. To build a consensus and allow everyone a voice, the plan uses an 11-step process. The process includes identifying the problem, establishing the givens and the ultimate decision-makers, deciding on the type of public participation needed and time lines, evaluating the project and process mid-way as well as after completion. Laws said it's a good first step toward defining rules and relationships for commissions, committees and ad hoc committees, but the council needs to go further to encourage more participation from the general public. "This is just one part," he said. The council will discuss the participation plan further at their next meeting, Jan. 4. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA