The Speak Up Henderson forums are being cut back to once a month after no one showed up to speak to Mayor Clem Seifert on Monday night.
“We see how many people care,” a frustrated Seifert said about halfway through the 6-to-7 session Monday. At that point, he, City Council member Elissa Yount and mayoral assistant Sandra Wilkerson had only two reporters and bail bondswoman Sara Coffey in the room with them.
Coffey came to observe, not speak, although she chatted with Seifert and Yount about a law enforcement issue involving a fellow bail bondsman she said is being given a free pass despite driving around without a valid license. But Coffey wasn’t look for any action from the mayor; she has taken the matter to City Manager Eric Williams.
Monday was the third consecutive council meeting that Seifert preceded with a Speak Up forum. He started the sessions, based on the forums he held in each of the city’s four wards last year, after a special session on the city’s audit drew about 100 people to the council chambers two hours before a regular council meeting.
The previous two Speak Up sessions started slowly but grew into active discussions that ran past 7 p.m.
They also involved more suggestions than complaints. Fewer than 10 people spoke at the two sessions combined, but they brought up such ideas as turning the old armory into a youth clubhouse and putting more city resources into the upkeep of King’s Daughters Park.
“When nobody comes, we can’t get any good ideas,” Seifert said.
The next Speak Up Henderson forum will be at 6 p.m. on May 23. If nobody comes to that session, Seifert said, he might drop the idea. But then he doesn’t want to hear complaints about city officials being unavailable for questions or complaints.
“I’m sitting here from 6 to 7 … and not one single person in Henderson shows up,” the mayor said.