By Samuel Strait – Reporter at Large – April 14 2022 At some point it would be constructive if the Del Norte County Board Of Supervisors would take lessons on how they might operate Board Meetings with the Public in mind. It is difficult enough for the working public to appear at Board meetings scheduled for 10:00 in the morning on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Not only is it a work day for most that do work, but scheduled during a time when most are on the job. In order to even physically attend most meetings those that work would have to miss work, not something most bosses would approve. During the Pandemic a new feature of Board meetings was "Zoom" attendance, when it was working, and the ability to interact with the Board from a computer or other electronic device. Unfortunately for many this form of attendance was often also off the table for those that worked and wished to participate. The reason that is often given for this scheduling, is more for the convenience of those that work for the government and not the public. This becomes a problematic excuse, if the meeting is designed and labeled as a "Public Meeting". While it is without doubt another obstacle for public attendance, Boards tend to be tone deaf when it comes to the purpose for which they meet. It is most certainly not for the "convenience" of the governing Bureaucracy that more often than not outnumbers the public by a wide margin at most meetings of the Board. It is to allow the Board to be transparent in their dealings with the County's business for the public, not the Bureaucracy. It is highly unlikely that attendance from the public is meant to be improved when these hurdles exist. Too often government moans about the lack of public participation, yet government makes participation an ordeal most cannot surmount. While it would appear the local Board would be unwilling to tear down some of the existing obstacles that are currently part of the process, it would behoove them to clean up their handling of "Public Comments". It is understandable that public comments are limited to three minutes, but this is rarely the case when various public officials appear before the lectern. The Board chair rarely cuts them off in mid comment or presentation. The recently employed video comments are yet another example of the two tiered system employed against the public's ability to be heard. As much as the current level of building a separation between the public and the Board is a problem, a more recent development has occurred, creating yet another wall to transparency in "Public Meetings" that does not favor the public. It has come to light that the public which has been allowed to submit written public comments to the Board, does not have those comments read into the record nor read in open session of the Board Meetings. The written comment is copied and given to each Board member, yet the public clearly has the right to know what the contents of that comment is. Without reading such comments during the " public comment" period and becoming part of the official record, the public in attendance or viewing on-line has been in effect prevented from hearing the comment or being assured it actually does become part of the public record. Similarly, the contents of the written comment have been in effect censored from the public, definitely not a transparent act by the Board. This is yet another example of the wall that has developed between the public and those that were meant to represent them. Not a good form of Representative Republican governance, and very likely would be a first amendment violation. This Board has for some time played fast and loose with the first amendment in its dealings with those that attend their meetings This is but one example of the Board's subterfuge when a written comment sent to the Clerk Of The Board, Kylie Goughnour, by Mr. Branden Bieber was not read into the record of the public meeting on April 12, 2022. How many other written comments have been withheld by the Del Norte County Board Of Supervisors from the record, or not heard by those in attendance? This is something that needs to be corrected by the Board as it further erodes the trust that the public has for the current Board of Supervisors. It also leads into the regular complaints by the public of "Not Being Heard".