A Call for POAH Transparency and Increased Participation
How does POAH achieve increased transparency?
POAH can start paving the road to increased transparency by implementing the following:
POAH board meetings should be held at 7pm, not 6am
The POAH board should email notice of the meeting date, time, and location at least one week in advance. The notice should include a meeting link if the meeting is going to be a virtual meeting.
Meeting notification emails should include an agenda that clearly labels what items are open session and what items are closed session. Closed session items should at least include a high-level summary for each item.
By default, all items should be open session unless there is a compelling reason to use a closed session
The open session items should be the first items on the agenda
Why Transparency?
The POAH Board made it loud and clear at our annual meeting: community apathy has paved the road to a crumbling community center building and other issues that need to be addressed within Hampton. However, how are POAH members supposed to care and pursue solutions to our problems when monthly POAH board meetings occur at 6am, aren’t even announced to membership, agendas aren’t made available, and nearly all items the board considers are “closed session” items?
Involved Community
An involved community is a community that is invited to the meetings where the problems are solved. A community that is allowed to be in the meeting room and part of the discussion, instead of one that sits out in the hallway during a “closed session”. An involved community is one where its representatives and decision makers design a process that encourages transparency and participation.