By Randall Thomas
I am personally disappointed at the shameful level of discourse that continues to take place regarding “concepts” to enhance downtown Silverton.
Representations both verbal and in print continue to contain gross distortions of truth, hyperbole and inaccuracies.
I want to assure the citizens of Silverton that I have felt absolutely no pressure from city staff or fellow councilors to favor any specific concept.
I believe my role as an elected official is to listen to all public input without prejudicing a possible decision in advance of an open public meeting.
I can only do that by maintaining impartiality, and not presuming to know how the community feels on any given subject.
Please know that council asked staff to provide a slate of different options, and then we began an extensive public outreach process.
These options are just “concepts” of which we may choose one or more to investigate before implementing a final decision.
As such, there are no answers at this time to many of the detailed questions such as drainage, traffic patterns, light pole placement, etc.
If a concept is chosen, then a full design will be completed that will answer all of the detailed questions being posed by members of our community.
At this point, there have been no detailed deliberations on any of the proposed concepts.
It would be a disservice to the public process to begin arbitrarily removing concepts from discussion just because a segment of the community feels strongly one way or the other on a given concept.
My fear is that if we begin to discount possible ideas on one topic now by removing them from the table before deliberating on all of the concepts, then future city matters may never receive the proper vetting needed to improve Silverton’s livability.
The process should always be to develop as many feasible scenarios as possible, gather public input, and then begin to narrow down to a final plan.
This is the proper way to arrive at decisions, and this should apply to all matters within our city.
If councilors publicly state their views prior to council deliberations, I believe it conveys the appearance of backroom agreements and predetermined votes.
Too, there have been times where I have changed my opinion during a public meeting due to facts presented, testimony received, information contained in staff reports, or deliberations during council discussion.
Bottom line: my silence is out of respect to all constituents and to the office that has been entrusted to me by the voters of Silverton.
Whether we as a Council are considering public improvement projects such as the current streetscape proposal, or any other matter of community concern, I will continue to respect the process and listen to each of you.
I think you deserve elected officials who will subvert their personal beliefs and opinions and work within the confines of the group to arrive at decisions in a fair, open manner that is respectful of all.
Randal Thomas is a member of the Silverton City Council.
