Blog gives insider's view of Kelso's City Council
Thursday, November 2, 2006 7:37 AM PST
By Amy M. E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleWhat was the Kelso City Council thinking?
Now you can get an idea by going online and reading Councilman David Futcher's new blog, "Talking Kelso."
The 35-year-old certified public accountant created the blog (an Internet diary, or Web log) about a week ago. On it, he discusses "after-the-fact details on the agendas of council meetings, clarifications of what we were really doing, and my thinking behind votes," he writes at http://talkingkelso.futcher.com/.
"I think we've got to work on other ways to reach people, and one of the least expensive ways is over the Internet," said Futcher, an admitted technology junkie who also has a blog page for his Kelso accounting firm. "I know it's got some limited reach, but I figure every extra piece of communication won't hurt."
So far, he's blogged about ongoing construction projects in town, his thoughts on the Kelso ballot initiative that calls for councilmen to be elected by ward, and the search for a new library site. He also has a section called "Beyond the Minutes" in which he offers a blow-by-blow explanation of each item on recent council meeting agendas, beginning with the Oct. 17 meeting.
Councilmen John Karnofski and Mark Chester have agreed to contribute to the blog, Futcher said.
Although political candidates frequently have their own Web sites, Futcher, who has been designing Web pages for 10 years, doesn't know of any other cities whose councilmen blog about their meetings. He'd like to take it even farther and update the blog while the meetings are in progress, he said, "keeping people up to date as we go."
He hopes citizens will check out the site and post comments beneath the entries. So far, none have.
"But if they just read, that's fine," he said. "I'm trying to give them a peek behind the curtain because so much of it can be confusing."
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