Hey, at least they listen

I won’t try to convince you to like the Battle Ground city council.

The seven members of the council make decisions that affect your wallets and ways of life, which rightly opens them up to public scrutiny. 

While I will never tell you to trust them or like the decisions they’ve made — I’ve disagreed with plenty myself — I will take the unpopular stance of defending them in one regard. 

They actually will listen to you. 

By “they” I mean the seven that are currently serving. I haven’t had any experience with previous members aside from Chris Regan. (Although it doesn’t matter now that he’s off the council and will only make this op-ed even more unpopular, I would also vouch for Chris as a pretty good listener). 

 To best prove my unpopular point, let us return to spring of 2017.

I, and barely anyone else, joined the council for their regular meeting on March 6. I was probably there to cover another annexation or something else related to growth. But whatever it might have been, it certainly wasn’t as riveting as a roughly 20-minute discussion that was prompted when a man named Harry Niles took the stand to offer up one of the meeting’s few public comments. 

Niles implored the city council to remove the road spikes that block drivers from entering the Battle Ground Community Center’s northern parking lot through the exit. He is a volunteer at the community center (at least he was then) and he had spoken with a number of people who popped their tires by entering the wrong direction. 

“I feel those spikes are a cruel punishment. It’s mean-spirited and punishing for anyone who makes a mistake and goes in that exit,” he told the council at the time. 

During the discussion that ensued, Parks and Recreation Director Debbi Hanson said that she too had heard from victims of the spikes, as had Regan. Councilor Shane Bowman also noted that those were probably just the ones who reported it, with most others likely just having their car towed away in silent embarrassment. 

The following month the council voted to leave the spikes — which, in fact, is a good example of decision I disagreed with. 

But the decision to leave the spikes, and my subsequent disagreement with that decision, isn’t the point. 

During the time I reported on the tire-poppers, I was impressed by how seriously the council took the issue — especially since it originated from just one testimony.

They discussed it for over 20 minutes with Niles; they tasked city staff with finding options to better the situation; they had another lengthy discussion with city staff and amongst themselves on the evening they voted. 

Had their efforts been prompted by multiple people continually showing up at council meetings and/or a flood of letters to The Reflector, I wouldn’t have thought twice. 

But all that time and effort being put into motion by the testimony of one guy? In a city with over 20,000 folks? Well… I have to admit: that’s commendable.  

Fast forward a year and the city is dealing with fireworks regulations instead of ruined tires. Only this time there’s a lot more opinions flowing in. 

When past-mayor and current-councilor Philip Johnson told our publisher that 20 complaints out of some 21,000 people in Battle Ground wasn’t enough to render a change to fireworks regulations, it ruffled some feathers. 

Johnson’s comments came across like he wasn’t concerned with complains unless they come with a lot of names attached, but the very fact that Johnson came in and talked with our publisher about the issue proves he took the matter seriously.  Plus, he was adamantly in favor of removing the spikes to save the lives of Battle Ground tires, so I cut him a little slack since he’s proven himself a friend of the people. 

One thing that surprised me after Johnson’s comments was how many folks said things like “Well, the only reason they’ve only heard from 20 people is because we know they won’t listen to us!” 

I can attest, based on my days working the “Destroyed-Tire Beat” that this is not true. 

The council might make a decision you hate, but they will listen to you. Even if you’re just one guy. 

The council as a whole proved me right.  After hearing maybe 20 complaints from people in the city (as Johnson would put it)  there were long discussions regarding the regulations and they even tasked city staff with drafting an ordinance. 

This op-ed has gone to print before they’ve decided whether or not to tighten regulations. But no matter how they voted, as I’ve said before, that’s not the point — they listened.  

I won’t defend the Battle Ground city council’s decision making, but if you want to air a grievance, I’ve got almost an hour’s worth of tire-related city council recordings to prove that they’ll probably listen and even take it to heart.