Mulder wants dialogue

Citizen activist Bob Mulder, who also heads the Northeast Citizens Advisory Council, wanted to speak at Tuesday's Public Works Committee meeting.

His request was denied.

Mulder, with the backing of nine environmental groups, wants the city to host a town meeting where the public can have a dialogue with the City Council and the city's parks staff regarding alternatives for athletics facilities instead of placing them at environmentally sensitive Horseshoe Farm Park.

Mulder was told by Council member Jessie Taliaferro, who also chairs the committee, that she wouldn't be allowing him to speak at the meeting because he wasn't already on the agenda.

"I don't think it's a violation of the public meeting laws," Mulder said during an interview.

He approached the City Attorneys office in the moments before the meeting started but said he was told the only way he could get the city to listen to him was by filing a citizens petition to be put on the City Council agenda.

Mulder said he would do so and after the meeting he approached Taliaferro.

"I can't just pop somebody on the agenda just because they request it 30 minutes before the meeting," said Taliaferro.

Mulder and others want a chance to talk with the city's Parks Department staff, which noted a laundry list of issues with alternative sites for athletics facilities until council member Tommy Craven suggested Durant Nature Park.

Mulder said taxpayers have the right to question city staff.

Craven's suggestion wasn't discussed at Tuesday's meeting, but it will come up at a Public Works Committee meeting in the near future. Stay tuned.