I’ve attended a lot of meetings of government entities in the county during my more than 21 years as a reporter. One of my favorites is Medora town council meetings.
It didn’t use to be that way because meetings in this small southwestern Jackson County town back in those days could run on for two or three hours.
The present council, especailly President Jim Davers run meetings much more smoothly and they’re usually over in 30 minutes or so. And these are truly some of the most democratic meetings I’ve covered.
Most other governing bodies only pay lip service to the patrons attending their meetings. Sometimes they allow those people to talk if they’ve called and asked to be put on the agenda, but those people rarely if ever get any kind of reply from one of their elected officials.
It’s not that way, however, at Medora Town Hall. After the council finishes conducting its business, Davers asks the town’s department heads if they have anything to add. He then moves on to the townsfolk sitting around waiting to talk.
He asks each one by name if they have anything. Some say no, but others speak up voicing their concerns all kinds of issues. Topics include the dogs roaming town, yards that aren’t clean enough to meet their standards and just about anything else that they can think about at the time. The council rarely can do anything about the issues brought up by the people except to nod and agree.
But I think the people voicing their concerns leave the meeting happy that someone was willing to listen to them if just for a few minutes. I’m as guilty as the next person about taking the time to listen when I’m being spoken to, but maybe we all need to listen a little more and talk a little less.

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