BY JIMMY LAWTON
North Country This Week

OGDENSBURG – Ogdensburg City Council will host a “Town Hall” meeting Jan. 31 to discuss goals for 2022.

The city has been busy over the past two years with multiple development proposals received for projects on city-owned properties, a battle with the fire union, a dispute over property tax foreclosure jurisdiction with the county and change in sales tax collection all underway.

The meeting is intended to help the city set priorities for the year.

Although the meeting will not allow the public to attend in person, the meeting is intended to draw ideas from the public.

“I think it’s important that we have a goals session in the near future,” City Councilor John Rishe said at a recent city council meeting.

The meeting will be held from 6 to 8 p.m., with the potential for a second meeting if interest exists and the time is not adequate.

Councilor Nichole Kennedy said she’d like to see at least an hour of public comment.

Kennedy sought to establish parameters for the public in comment.

“Generally in a workshop setting, previously we 've allowed back and forth interaction. I’ve never attended one virtually. Previously they've been held and the public has been able to come and it’s been more of a roundtable discussion, unfortunately this will have to be different due to the parameters of city hall.”

Kennedy suggested allowing people to speak for 5 minutes on each topic.

Deputy Mayor Steve Fisher suggested having people submit comments ahead of time to ensure the meeting doesn’t go too long.

Kennedy resisted the move, adding that she believes people will want to speak at the meeting.

Fisher asked if a list of topics could be compiled in the interest of keeping the meeting on track.

“Could we have specific topics for what goals instead of people just being not happy,” he said. “Not just a generic can we just ‘let’s have a workshop’ and just have the phones keep ringing. You’re not going to get anything done.”

Councilor Rishe said he believes community development should be the focus of the meeting.

“I don’t have any problem putting a summary together of my assumption of what the city’s goals are,” he said.

Kennedy suggested councilors each submit a topic for discussion and then stick to those topics at the meeting.

Jellie supported that idea. He said establishing the framework and getting it out to the public beforehand would help keep things on topic.

Jellie said he would also send out some information to councilors regarding things he’d been planning to focus on in the coming year and urged the council to read it over and provide feedback.