Blackfoot mayor hosting monthly open forums
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BLACKFOOT — The Blackfoot mayor will begin holding open mic chats starting in February.
Mayor Marc Carroll said he promised Blackfoot voters when he was elected in 2017 that he would hold town hall-type meetings to ensure as much transparency as possible. Starting on Feb. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at the Blackfoot City Hall, Carroll will offer a forum for locals to ask questions, share comments and express their concerns.
“I’m looking forward to next Tuesday night and getting a chance to talk to people,” Carroll told EastIdahoNews.com. “I’m just looking forward to hearing what people have to say, see what’s on their mind.”
The meetings will take place once a month just before the Blackfoot City Council meets. (The council meets at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month.)
“Previous Blackfoot mayors have tried doing an open mic in conjunction with the City Council meetings,” he said. “Doing at the council meeting, it wound up just getting too cumbersome, and after five or six of these, they decided to quit doing it.”
Carroll hasn’t decided if the chats will be recorded, but if anyone who cannot attend or doesn’t wish to ask a question openly can submit questions, comments or concerns beforehand by emailing lisa@cityofblackfoot.org.
“Hopefully, it’s just explaining how taxes work, how we decide which streets we’re going to pave … informational things like that. But I’m sure it’s going to wind up, ‘What’s the city’s annexation plan, what are you going to do with the swimming pool facility?'” Carroll said. “Those are all things that I think are good items to have a discussion on.”