Interesting choice of words

When I first learned about Tuesday’s joint meeting of the City Council and the Planning Commission to hash over the City’s Comprehensive Plan, I was under the impression it was going to be a workshop, possibly with all 14 council members and commissioners sitting around a table hashing out how to have the Plan make more sense than it does now.

However, the official agenda for the affair has now been posted and it’s labeled as a "Special City Council Meeting." Does that mean the council members will be on the dais from which they will lecture planning commissioners on how the world goes ‘round? Does that mean planning commissioners will be confined to taking their turns at the lectern, if an when they are summoned for their opinion? I have no earthly idea.

I do know this. With the recent departures of Mike Rubsam and Mike Wilson from the Planning Commission, I’m not confident the holdovers and those that have replaced them have the knowledge to make meaningful contributions to this discussion. Mayor Todd Webster along with council members Shane Arabie and David Wilson should, for the good of the city’s smart growth future, dominate this discussion.

I also know that this meeting would not have even been necessary had the planning commissioners completed the assignment the council asked of them which was to make midterm amendments to the Comp Plan, which, of course, is what Tuesday’s meeting is designed to finally take care of. What I’m getting at here is, if the commissioners couldn’t do it then, why have any faith that they have seen the light and can do it now?

So even if they all are sitting around a table as equals, what I expect is for Webster, Wilson and Arabie to kind if go through the document, outlining the changes —like getting rid of some nodes and designating the part of town specified for business development where such development is a realistic possibility — they want the commissioners, at a subsequent meeting, to recommend the council formally adopt. I don’t expect much time wasted on debate.

So, perhaps, "meeting" is in reality a more apt description than "workshop" of what’s going to take place beginning 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. We’ll just have to wait and see.