8-hour county meetings? Welcome to Hidalgo’s court
Public input is priority for new commissioners
good nearby happy hour, Tuesday’s Harris County Commissioners Court meeting already had lasted five hours and 44 minutes. The session concluded at 6:31 p.m., precisely eight and a half hours after it began, though few people in the room witnessed the beginning and end.
County Judge Linda Hidalgo
When Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack wondered aloud if anyone still in attendance knew of a and her Democratic colleagues have made good on their pledge to increase opportunities for public participation in meetings, though the results to date are mixed. The sessions have been well-attended but endure late into the afternoon, leaving residents waiting hours to speak and
detaining county department heads for an entire day.
Extended discussions on topics broad and narrow afford the public a wider glimpse of county government, thought they have ensured each regular meeting this year has stretched past six and a half hours. For the first time in any commissioner’s memory, the court takes a recess for lunch.
Hidalgo said she was pleased with the spike in attendance at meetings — which now include overflow rooms — but acknowledged a need to improve the process.
“At some point, we owe it to the community to do business transparently, and we’re still working out the kinks of how to do that,” Hidalgo said. “The notion that short meetings equal efficient government is more a reflection of an outdated way of governing.”
Hidalgo has ditched the model of her predecessors, where meetings seldom eclipsed an hour and included little discussion as court members marched through the agenda. She has made an effort to explain agenda items in plainspeak, sometimes directly to the cameras for residents who may be watching the livestream online. In addition to court meetings, she has circulated a community survey and launched a series of public meetings on many topics, called the Civic Saturdays initiative.
Jay Aiyer, who teaches political science at Texas Southern University and previously served as chief of staff to Houston Mayor Lee P. Brown, said Commissioners Court meetings at present are not structured for lengthy discussions or hours of public testimony. He said Hidalgo likely will have to shepherd in a new model that allows the court to realize her vision. He praised the three regular sessions so far this year, despite their flaws.
“They are making the sausage in public,” Aiyer said. “They’ve got it all going on.”
Initial surprise at the length of meetings has given way to acceptance. Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle wheels his more comfortable office chair to the dais and at the second meeting provided granola bars to attendees. On Jan. 8, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis left the meeting during a recess, went to a funeral and returned later as members trudged through the agenda.
Tied up all day
Department heads bring bagged lunches and have stopped scheduling meetings on court days. Constables who provide security now can sit in tall chairs rather than stand throughout the meetings. A county employee, at a podium in the hallway, restricts traffic into the chamber for what has become the hottest ticket in town for 10 a.m. on a weekday.
Radack, who has served on the court since 1989, said Tuesday’s meeting was the longest he had ever attended. He said tying up county department heads for the whole workday is inefficient.
“The meetings are unpredictable,” Radack said. “You’re having very important people — engineers, lawyers, the auditor — who are spending their day in Commissioners Court when they certainly all don’t need to be there the whole time.”
Many county leaders used to sit in the first few rows during meetings, but since they have been so crowded now work in anterooms off the court chamber. They do what work they can while keeping one ear tuned to the livestream, should they be called to appear.
Matt Zeve, deputy executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District, said he makes the best of the situation, noting court meetings are one of the few times he is unlikely to be interrupted.
“I have my phone and email open and am getting things done,” he said. “A disadvantage is, we can’t take any meetings.”
The marathon court meetings have been particularly draining on residents who have signed up to speak. At Hidalgo’s urging, the court takes public testimony on each agenda item rather than in a designated portion for speakers. This allows the court to hear public comments relevant to the item members are discussing, but leaves residents waiting and guessing when their names may be called.
Many simply give up and go home or back to work. Of the more than 100 speakers who signed up Tuesday, about half stuck around long enough to participate.
Gladys House-El, a floor installer who hoped to speak about a disparity study of minority contractors, surrendered just after 1 p.m. on Tuesday. She suggested the court could consolidate many speakers on the same topic to save time.
“With the past administration, they’d get you in there and get you out,” she said.
Shelby Roquemore took the day off from her job as an event planner to speak to court members about animal shelters and arrived on the ninth floor of the county administration at 8:45 a.m. Her turn at the lectern came at 6:20 p.m. She was pleased the new court is encouraging more residents to come speak, but urged members to consider ways to make participating easier.
“I’ve spoken at City Hall and Commissioners Court 10 times and never waited more than two or three hours,” Roquemore said. “I work hourly so (Tuesday) was a complete wash.”
‘Get over it’
Cagle said he fears Commissioners Court is becoming like Houston City Council, where meetings are rarely brief.
At City Hall, mayors defend their chosen agenda items from the quibbles, concerns and confusion of 16 council members, some of whom rarely study items in depth and each of whom gets five minutes to speak each time they seek to comment. Some routinely exhaust this time limit and are placed at the end of the queue of colleagues awaiting their own fiveminute spotlights. Still, the 9 a.m. Wednesday council meetings typically conclude by lunchtime. Meetings at which members of the public give their input are held on Tuesdays.
Cagle said marathon meetings actually discourage participation, as residents may be dismayed by the experience of attending.
“It used to be if you had something to say, you could take a long lunch, give your three-minute speech to tell us what was on your heart and in your mind, and then go back to work,” Cagle said.
Ellis and Garcia said the question commissioners should be asking is why meetings were so short under previous county judges. Ellis urged court members to accept that sessions where the court approves tens of millions of dollars of spending without debate are extinct.
“I would say to my distinguished colleagues, they ought to adjust, because welcome to the future,” Ellis said. “With all due respect, they need to get over it.”
Hidalgo said her staff is looking at the county governments in Los Angeles and Chicago for ideas at improving Harris County’s meeting model, and said she welcomes suggestions. She said residents could be permitted to submit written comments.
The county judge acknowledged shaking up the way county has operated for decades will be a halting, piecemeal process, though she said voters chose her in part because they agreed with her pitch to making the government more accessible to residents.
“Democracy is slow and democracy is messy,” Hidalgo said.
The next Commissioners Court meeting is Feb. 26.