You spoke, the assembly listened

Chalk this one up as a win for the people of the Mat-Su Borough.

While we write editorials to express our opinions, we don’t write expecting what we suggest should happen, will happen.

But sometimes it does.

We took the Mat-Su Borough Assembly to task in the Dec. 2 issue of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman for its 6 to 1 vote opposing a texting resolution introduced Nov. 15 by Assemblyman Warren Keogh. The failed resolution would have prohibited the use of any electronic device by an assembly member or the mayor during a meeting, except for breaks or in case of emergency.

When we asked our readers to weigh in via a poll at frontiersman.com, the response was more lopsided than any poll question we recall. We asked: “Should elected officials be permitted to send email, texts or take phone calls during public meetings?”

Thursday night when we closed the poll, there were 1,531 “no” votes and 212 “yes” votes.

Apparently, someone at the assembly table was paying attention to what you had to say — all 1,531 of you — because at the Tuesday assembly meeting the texting ordinance was revived and unanimously approved.

Who brought the resolution back to the table?

Mayor Larry DeVilbiss reintroduced the resolution to ban electronic communication at the table Tuesday.

The new rules say, “During assembly meetings the mayor and members of the assembly will not communicate electronically in a manner that would violate the Open Meetings Act so that all deliberations happen openly and publicly.”

We think open, public deliberation on public business is what the public wants, too.

We cheer this change and laud Keogh’s early efforts to see that the assembly’s rules for its own conduct keep pace with changing technologies.

We also appreciate Keogh, who asked and received his colleagues’ unanimous consent to strike a portion of DeVilbiss’ resolution that would have allowed him to put out dueling “pro” and “con” sign-up sheets and require the public sign up on one or the other to testify on various matters.

These pro and con sign-in sheets ginned their own controversy when they were used at a meeting this summer regarding coal.

We worry all of these things are related to a bit of amnesia on the part of assembly members and the mayor. Some among them seem to have forgotten who it is that they were elected to serve.

We would remind our “open for business” assembly and mayor that their first obligation is to us — the nearly 90,000 individuals who live in the Mat-Su Borough.