• PB: Your Voice Can Still Be Heard — GREAT JOB!

    I wanted to wait for the Transparent Local Government group to upload the video of the City Council meeting so you could enjoy the dialog yourself. The discussion starts at the 1 hour and 11 minute mark on the video. http://youtu.be/TO8WIb-FY0o Thanks to the three citizens (Chester Pumphrey, Greg West and Jack Rushin) for their challenge of the new bill. For those that want the cliffnotes version here you go: The bill was going to limit how much time the citizens could speak without being on the agenda from 10 minutes down to 3 minutes. Mr. Pumphrey informed the council that the current ordinance gave the mayor the ability to limit the speakers to 10 minutes which is the de

    Jul 19,
    - by Brian Becker

  • PB: Your Voice Is Being Squashed Tonight — Do You Care?

    UPDATE: Citizens of Poplar Bluff joined together and worked to prevent the City Manager and City Clerk from greatly reducing the impact of the Citizen's Input portion of the Council meetings. Keep an eye on upcoming agendas over the coming months, I'm afraid we haven't seen the last of this one. =========================== At the last City Council meeting (video is posted below) the City Manager introduced a new ordinance which will limit the voice a citizen has to their city council. The freedom of expressing your opinion to your city council is being threatened. Councilman Brannum compared the council to Former Governor of Arkansas, Gov Huckabee, who had an open door policy. Mr Brannum was opposed to the bill. City

    Jul 15,
    - by Brian Becker

  • Judge Sides With City – Awards $206k

    Sadly, the judge closed the case today and awarded the city $206k. But as a friend routinely says, did you expect anything else? On the plus side, the case is now fully resolved, which allows us to finally move toward an appeal of earlier decisions in the case.

    Jun 13,
    - by Brian Becker

  • Looking Back…Three Long Years…And Pressing On

    Our hearing in May marked 3 long years of our battle with the City of Poplar Bluff over Open Access to the Network. And today, June 7, marks three years since appearing before City Council my first time. I actually remember thinking, on my way to city hall, that once they understood what Bach had done, they would correct it. How's that for naive? One of the most remarkable achievements during this time was our second petition drive. Just over 3400 Poplar Bluff verified voters signed the petition. Our group of volunteers turned in over 700 change of address or new voter registration cards. 5000 Poplar Bluffians show up to vote for Governor each election. Under 1100 showed up in

    Jun 07,
    - by Brian Becker

  • Make Good On Your Promise City Manager Bagby

    On May 1, 2013, I informed City Council that Bill Bach had not turned in the required Fuel Factor calculations since 2007 and further stated that Bill Bach should either resign or be fired. Councilman Brannum stated he would like to discuss the Fuel Factor issue at an upcoming meeting. City Manager Bagby then promised "I can get you accurate information [on the fuel factor]." (12:00 mins on the City Council Video) It's now June and Council has had three open meetings and Bagby still has not presented the "more accurate" Fuel Factor information. These calculations are required by City policy to be calculated every six months. According to City Clerk Pam Kearbey the city doesn't have calculations on file

    Jun 03,
    - by Brian Becker
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