City Advises People to Request Council Agenda Items

To request an agenda item be added to the March 5 City Council meeting, city officials are advising citizens to file official requests no later than Wednesday, Feb. 28.

A press release issued by the City of Alliance on Feb. 20 advised of the process to request to be added to the City Council, noting that the request must be submitted to the City Clerk no later than seven days prior to the City Council meeting.

“Items submitted after the deadline will be scheduled for the following meeting,” the release stated. “You may obtain a copy of the City Council Agenda request form on our website www.cityofalliance.net or stop by the Administration Office, 324 Laramie Ave. You may submit forms in person or via email at info@cityofalliance.net.”

City Manager Seth Sorensen told the Alliance Times-Herald that the council is following a policy that has been established regarding requests for items to be added to their meeting agenda.

“Council sets their own policy for how meetings are conducted and is following a policy that has been in place for a while now, which is asking that citizens complete the form and turn it in to the City Clerk a week in advance in order to know the basis for their request -oftentimes it is a matter that can be resolved at the staff level,” said Sorensen.

Addressing the Feb. 20 City Council meeting, Sorensen explained that he was not sure if anyone was present to discuss the hiring of David Leavitt as the new Alliance Police Department Chief.

“I know there was a rumor going around that there would be an executive session, but that rumor was not based on any truth and no executive session occurred. Mayor (Earl) Jones made it clear before the meeting started that there was no discussion item on the agenda to talk about the hiring of Chief Leavitt and encouraged them to complete the form requesting to be on the next agenda if they wished to speak on the subject,” Sorensen said.