A town hall meeting for the public will be held on Friday, Jan. 5, 2018, at 6 p.m. at the Grand Center in Moab. Participants will include our three state legislators (Sen. Hinkins and Reps. Watkins and Albrecht) and multiple officials from the city and county. This event has been planned and is sponsored by Sees (Citizens for Community Collaboration) and the Grand County League of Women Voters.
Two of these state legislators (Sen. Hinkins and Rep. Albrecht) were in Moab on Sept. 6, 2017, for a town hall meeting. At that time, they both expressed a desire for more town hall meetings here in the future, especially prior to or early in each legislative session. Legislators Hinkins and Albrecht verbalized their hope for more consensus, or at least a better understanding, of opinions held by the Moab City and Grand County governments. They also confirmed the value of hearing from the community in general so they can respond appropriately to our needs.
This upcoming meeting is intended to be an informative conversation, and not a debate or an argument. The Moab public needs to have the opportunity to witness these discussions and learn more about the issues of importance. This will also be the opportunity for government officials to hear the opinions of concerned citizens on these matters. We believe that our community will benefit from the promotion of communication and cooperation among our officials, representatives, and citizens.
Specific goals of this town hall meeting include:
1. Acquaint the public with the forthcoming issues and bills that will be or should be considered by the Utah State Legislature in 2018.
2. Provide the opinions and thoughts of our three state legislators relative to these issues and bills.
3. Allow the city and state officials to review and summarize their organizations’ and their own considerations on these issues.
4. Provide the opportunity for citizens to ask questions of the panel on these and other topics.
5. Help citizens and the general public identify what issues they may want to pursue further and with whom they should correspond.
We hope you will attend this important event. Our community will not benefit from participating in the nonproductive partisan politics we hear so much about happening elsewhere. The town hall meeting held in Moab last September was very informative and the public participation and demeanor were excellent. This January event can now build on that success!
