Local youth taking part in the annual mock city council meeting Thursday got to explore the roles of both concerned citizens and city officials in local politics.
The mock city council meeting is part of an annual week-long Millbrae Youth in Government program organized by the Millbrae city council, the Millbrae Lions and the Millbrae Leos. It also includes a tour of city hall and a lunch with city council members.
During the mock city council meeting, a group of about 20 members of the Millbrae Leos took the role of the council members and city officials, like the youth police chief and youth city attorney, as well as that of concerned members of the public.
“We gave them the three topics at a lunch meeting and we gave them a lot of background on how to conduct a city council meeting—the procedures and the formalities,” said Vice Mayor Marge Colapietro. “They broke up into cluster groups and talked it over and it was up to them to ask questions that came to mind.”
The topics of the mock meeting were: approval for operation and funding of a community youth center; an informational report on the installation of parking meters; and a report on the consolidation of city police services with the county sheriff’s department.
Before the youth city council could get to any of the topics of the meeting, however, Millbrae City Clerk Angela Louis addressed them during the citizen communication portion of the meeting with a plea that something be done about the trash in the city.
“It was just impromptu,” said Louis. “They needed a feeling for how meetings can go. People will speak about things that are important to them and this is the forum in which they can do it.”
As the participating Leos moved on to the scheduled items, those taking the roles of city staff presented the outlines of each proposal while those in the role of the city council questioned the details of each proposal.
In the case of the community center, for example, those making the proposal to the council explained the details of recreational facilities to be offered, such as facilities for homework assistance for youth and community events to be hosted. Those in the role of the city council asked about the details, such as how it would be funded, how the staff would be paid for, the hours that the facility would be open and even the expected maintenance costs.
After the presentation Colapietro took the role of a concerned neighbor and spoke to the council.
“The youth center will be in my back yard, over the fence, and one of my concerns is noise. I’d also like to know what kind of people will be there to supervise—I’m concerned about the trash,” said Colapietro, as part of her role.
Youth mayor Ranit Dubey acknowledged the points brought up by Colapietro and tabled the item pending more investigations about the opinions of the neighbors.
The presentation regarding the installation of electronic parking meters had another Millbrae Leo, Kevin Durnay, taking the role of a concerned local businessman to urge the council against approval—citing the potential of metered parking to drive away customers for local businesses as well as the potential of parking meters to undermine city beautification efforts.
“It was a lot more exciting than I thought it would be,” said Durnay. “It was fun. We got to say our own ideas.”
In the end Dubey also acknowledged the points Durnay brought up, tabling the parking meter item for further consideration.
The final item, the consolidation of city police services with county sheriff services likewise included a report of pros and cons to be considered and questions from the council—but when the question of converting city police to county sheriffs was brought up, the youth city attorney brought up the issue of different labor pools and the need to study the matter further.
That item, also, was tabled for later consideration.
“We really learned a lot,” Dubey said of the event. “That’s where the program was best—we really got a hands on insight on the process.”
