Discontent over a consent agenda

It's called the consent agenda, a seemingly innocuous part of local city council meetings.

Items on the consent agenda are approved without discussion unless a council member takes action to bring an item up for full council consideration.

The consent agenda is a way to quickly dispatch relatively minor items.

But it also can be used to hide major issues from public or council scrutiny or to rubber-stamp major decisions without the inconvenience of debate.

So it was with relief that we noted that the Kalispell City Council moved four different issues off the consent agenda at its meeting last week.

Those issues ranged from the final vote on the Courthouse East project to the first step in the city negotiating with Wells Fargo about acquiring its downtown bank building for city use.

Eventually, after discussion, the council approved all four items. But the important point here is that they were discussed, not just granted blanket approval.

We don't argue with the need to use the consent agenda to streamline council business somewhat, but we're leery about overusing that function to speed through issues that deserve fuller debate.

For instance, the city of Kalispell may well need more office space, particularly as it's poised to expand its work force by 10 percent or more.

But shouldn't there be a little more public consideration as the city embarks on what could be a multimillion-dollar property purchase?

Last week's vote was merely the initial OK to allow bargaining over the bank building to begin. We hope - and expect - that future discussions also will be open and not relegated to the quick vote of the consent agenda.

Governments in a sense are designed to operate with less-than-optimum efficiency. Otherwise, it might be too tempting to cut the public out of the public's business. Hearings and public comment periods may interfere with doing things swiftly and quietly - but that's the way it's supposed to be.

In the quest for government efficiency, let's not leave the public out of the picture.