City Council Meetings
“City Council is the place where a citizen’s voice is the most heard.”
Practice
Educate. Attend your city council meeting and listen to issues at the local level.
Curiosity. Consider other perspectives and passions for issues in your city.
Empathy. Hear the history and backstory that has formed people’s positions.
Character. Be a voice of support or opposition with integrity.
Andrea Peters has served on the Littleton City Council for the last two years. She shares her conviction about the essential nature of citizens’ participation in city council meetings. “On our flowchart, citizens are at the very top. If we don't hear from them, the whole system breaks down," she explains. With a mix of optimism and realism, she adds, "I think [local city council meetings] might be the most hopeful part of government right now."
Citizens want their voice to be heard and influence the trajectory of the city. From passionate discussions about the materials to use on trails to the preservation of historical places and the safety of children riding to school, city council meetings are where neighbors shape outcomes. Andrea shares from her own experience on one issue for the Littleton City Council, “The conversations people had on an issue, advocating over and over for what they wanted…they changed my mind, and they changed three other council members' minds.”
City council meetings are where the critical questions of democracy are worked out every week. Do I trust this system to protect, defend, and represent me? When you are a regular presence at city council meetings, you begin to witness the complexity behind decisions that may seem simple from afar. You witness council members investing time to listen with nuance to the issues that affect real neighbors in real ways. Your presence communicates to elected local officials that citizens are proactively engaged in city outcomes. In the process, you become a more informed neighbor about community issues. You are aware of the depth of discussions and the passionate differences in convictions.
A way to begin the practice of participating in city council meetings is to approach each meeting with curiosity rather than predetermined conclusions. Ask yourself: "What might I not yet understand about this issue?" This posture opens doors for dialogue rather than defensiveness as a default. Andrea provides an important insight: “For every ordinance you support, there's an ordinance someone else supports, and you're against." Participating in city council meetings will require learning to listen longer and becoming a more differentiated individual.
Creating a communal presence at city council meetings with like-minded neighbors is valuable. Coordinated groups with proactive agendas and positive attitudes—even when they do not immediately prevail—have more influence than isolated voices. Communicating support for an issue, not only opposition to issues, is important. The majority is often silent. A handful of citizens may dominate discussions, leaving elected officials uncertain about broader community sentiment.
When you practice participating in city council meetings, you are stewarding the responsibility of caring for your neighbors and neighborhood. You are communicating through your presence that place matters, neighbors matter, and the messy, hopeful work of local democracy matters.
Thank you to Andrea Peters for stewarding the responsibility for citizens in her city and her conversation and contribution to this article.
