Elected officials have fielded considerable public comment during recent local meetings, but members of the Grand Junction City Council say they often connect best with the community while at a cafe, over beers or even on the pickleball court.
There’s no one way for a council member to reach out for feedback or respond to a concern of a citizen. Unlike an official meeting, which has a set structure, the members have a variety of strategies to get this important part of the job done.
MONTHLY MEETINGS
A couple of years ago, when Mayor Pro Tem Anna Stout was first running for City Council, she noticed that candidates did a lot of outreach events, but once elected, they stopped. She decided after winning her seat that she’d keep doing a monthly get-together with constituents over beers, which she called Stouts with Stout.
“I think it’s even more important when you are in office in a decision- making capacity that you’re doing that, much more so than you were during a campaign,” Stout said. “So that’s why we kept doing them.”
Throughout 2019 and into 2020, Stout held a monthly event and invited members of the public to attend. They could ask questions, raise concerns or even challenge her.
“I really believe that when you have a beverage between you, whether it’s a cup of coffee or a beer or a glass of wine, when you’re sitting across the table from someone, something about that really is an equalizer, it’s a humanizer,” Stout said. “Rather than try to do some town hall event where the power dynamic is very different, my thought was, man, let’s just just get people to sit down and talk over a beer together.”
The idea has spread and now two other council members hold similar monthly events. Mayor Chuck McDaniel began doing them in fall of 2019 and held his latest Coffee with Chuck on Thursday. He said it’s nice to talk with people outside the City Council meeting environment.
“What we do in the meetings is a one-way conversation,” McDaniel said. “So this is a way of having a dialogue with citizens, just to be present and hear what people’s concerns are.”
Council Member Abe Herman, who was elected in 2021, has begun doing monthly events as well, taking what he saw from Stout and McDaniel and putting his own spin on it.
“We’re doing some morning coffees, some afternoon beers or other afternoon get-together,” Herman said. “I’m hoping in the future to do some more unique location like maybe at Lunch Loops or something like that.”
During the initial COVID-19 pandemic, health guidance led to McDaniel and Stout pausing their meetings. Stout said her focus went more to online engagement, holding a couple of live Facebook events. In July, all three council members were able to get back to in-person events, which Stout said has been better.
“That was one of the hardest things about the pandemic was not being able to have those personal engagement opportunities, because that’s the whole point of them,” Stout said. “They’re just so much more effective than any kind of virtual engagement.”
The smaller nature of the events can help as well. Herman said he understands speaking at a City Council meeting can be intimidating to people, but sitting down with a single council member might be easier.
“There’s always interesting things to think about and it’s a good way to address people’s concerns,” Herman said. “I think for some people it’s a little bit more accessible than trying to contact the city and figure out who to talk to about things.”
In addition to her normal monthly meetings, Stout said she also does special outreach with the Spanish-speaking community where she’ll hold an event, typically at a community church, to engage with them a couple of times a year.
Stout also has reached out to the community’s youth. She invites a young person in the community to the City Council meetings, where they get a tour of the building, meet the City Council and learn about the meeting process. She said anyone interested in participating can email her at anna@annaforgj.com or message her Anna for GJ Facebook group.
All three meetings are announced on the city’s Facebook page and on its website.
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Some City Council members said they like to engage with their constituents in more social settings, making themselves available at events already scheduled throughout the community.
Council Member Phillip Pe’a said he attends multiple events weekly where he talks with constituents and hears their concerns.
“I’m out there all the time constantly because we sponsor Las Colonias, Avalon, all those events,” Pe’a said. “I make it a point to get to those events and I buy beers for people and do the same things.”
Pe’a said a lot of his interactions involve directing people with issues or concerns to the right person on city staff who can help them. Navigating that on their own can be confusing and council members can help facilitate those needs.
“More times than most, it’s just pointing them in the right direction,” Pe’a said. “Like talking to somebody then saying to (City Manager Greg Caton) you need to follow this to this person to take care of this problem.”
Similarly, Council Member Dennis Simpson said his pickleball hobby puts him in contact regularly with community members who are not shy about sharing their concerns.
“People aren’t bashful,” Simpson said. “They come up and talk to me about what they think needs to be done.”
Simpson said he’s also attended the Chamber of Commerce and Latino Chamber of Commerce After-Hours events to meet people and hear from community members. He said he also occasionally attends events of local organizations that put him in contact with citizens on both ends of the political spectrum to hear a variety of viewpoints.
EMAILS AND OUTREACH
Every council members gets emails regularly from residents with concerns or issues they are facing and some on the council use that as a jumping off point for additional outreach.
“It starts with trying very hard to respond to emails that are sent to me individually,” Council Member Rick Taggart said. “I’ve always been that way. If someone sends something to me individually, I will respond.”
Taggart said that he offers people who reach out to meet individually over coffee and discuss their concerns. He said when he’s out in public and approached he will extend the same invitation.
“I think it helps the citizens because there’s not a huge number of people around and it helps me because I can really focus on what their concern is, as compared to when you have a large group it sometimes gets a little bit unruly,” Taggart said.
Council Member Randall Reitz said he’s been doing a wide range of outreach, including through his Facebook page, where he will post questions and engage with people. He said he’s still trying to understand where people in the city stand on the issues facing it.
“My main goal is to listen and understand their perspective,” Reitz said. “I am still in my first six months on City Council, so I’m trying to understand what the temperature of the community is around certain issues. If someone is passionate enough to seek me out, I want to listen to them and hear what their concerns are.”
It’s not all online though. Reitz has tried his hand at hosting a meeting with the National Night Out for Police. He hosted an event at his home where constituents turned out and he said he’d consider holding meetings when an opportunity like that presents itself.
All of these various strategies of outreach can come back to help the City Council members as they consider different issues. Taggart said each interaction with a community member makes him think.
“A lot of times I will hear something that’s about a subject that’s important to us as a council or I will hear a point of view or some fact that I wasn’t aware of,” Taggart said. “It causes me to say, ‘Oh I need to think about that. I need to consider that. I need to look further into that.’ It’s always a help.”
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