P-B Advisory Board

Is there really a rift over emergency management?

AS an old retired guy I can watch those home repair shows.

One thing I have learned is that sometimes the crack in the ceiling is just a Minnesota crack, hot/cold - dry/wet. Put a patch on it, little paint, no problem.

But sometimes there really is danger that the bath tub is coming into the living room.

Reminded of that at the emergency management PB dialog last evening, is the crack between the city council and the county board a real problem or were all the warm feelings and high fives by the panel a sign that it was just a Minnesota crack. I don't think we got the answer to that question, there was no looking back at what clearly went wrong and that concerns me.

Did you read the "Trip of a lifetime claims two pens" story from Saturday's paper?

If not, you should!  It was really well written and an interesting story.  Looking forward to more stories from Joseph Vukov.  You can read it online (and see the great pictures) here - 

http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=21&a=439890 

Mark Thein

Meeting times, places should be convenient

Went to the water presentation by Citizens Caucus on Friday. Not bad attendance, but I wonder if they could have drawn more for a noon brown bag meeting at a downtown location, that is, if there was one available.

RCTC provided the space this time, I don't know of a similar free/low cost venue downtown, and I have tried to book such events. Should the MCC provide such a service, seems as if they are often empty during the week at noon.

Advisory board expands P-B's community focus

By Greg Sellnow

A couple of months ago I asked readers to let me know if they were interested in serving on our Editorial Advisory Board.

I can tell you with all honesty that I was surprised at the the number of folks — more than 30 from throughout our readership area — who said they'd like to be considered for this group.

After all, there are few perks for serving on our citizen advisory panel, other than what we hope is some engaging dialogue, pizza or pastries and the thrill of seeing their names in print every now and then.

I was encouraged that there were that many readers who were willing to donate their time to help us make our Opinions and Commentary pages more engaging and interactive.

We like to think we have a pretty well-informed editorial board. The five of us — Publisher Randy Chapman, Editorial Writer Eric Atherton, P-B Business Manager Chris Blade, P-B reporter Tom Weber, Agri News reporter Janet Kubat Willette, and me — get out into the community and region a lot and we meet with hundreds of community, political and other groups and individuals throughout the year.

But we can't be everywhere, and we can't pretend to know what's important to people who work in, say, the medical, engineering or construction fields. That's one of the reasons that last year at about this time we created a five-member panel of citizens to advise us on what's important to the people of southeastern Minnesota.

We also offered these five people the opportunity to write occasional columns or "mini-editorials" when the spirit moved them.

It was an experiment that we believe was a success. Members of our 2009 board — Dave Grimsrud, Ray Schmitz, Don Flassing, Jerry Williams and Gayle Kall — offered their insight to the board and contributed columns and shorter "Two Cents Worth" comments throughout their tenure on the Advisory Board.

Their valuable contributions have prompted us to continue the project in 2010, with a few changes that we think will further enhance the advisory panel's role as a conduit between our editorial board and the public.

First, we've expanded the board from five to eight members. (Schmitz, who joined the panel mid-year last year as a replacement member will continue with the board through 2010.)

Also, we've decided to meet face-to-face with the group six times a year, rather than quarterly.

We're also hoping the newly expanded group will re-energize this blog. Our hope is that the blog will become a virtual town hall for interaction about local, regional and statewide issues.

Our advisory board members were selected based on a variety of criteria, including their willingness to offer their opinions, in writing, on a variety of important issues. We also wanted a highly diverse group of individuals, active in the community, who represent a broad cross-section of our readership.

Just a couple points of clarification about the advisory panel. Several readers have asked if the advisory group is part of our editorial board and whether their views are those of the P-B. The answers are no, and no. We've invited the advisory board members to occasionally sit in on our Editorial Board meetings and we value their ideas. But they don't have a vote on the board, so all opinions on our editorial pages represent the consensus views of the Editorial Board, which is composed entirely of P-B employees.

Advisory Board members sometimes disagree with the opinions of our board. We view that as a good thing, and we've encouraged them to offer their counter views, just as we offer all readers the opportunity to have their say in the form of letters to the editor.

The Advisory Board is an independent group, as I think you'll learn very quickly, and we look forward to their contributions throughout the year.

The primary objective of our Editorial Board is to provide local residents with a platform for community dialogue about issues that are important to the community, the region and the state. That's where you come in. Although we have high hopes that the 2010 Editorial Advisory Board will do a lot to help us with that objective, this panel is by no means a substitute for the letters to the editor, guest columns and Web comments from readers.

So, by all means let our advisory board members know if you have a beef with our editorials, and please feel free to take part in discussions on the Advisory Board Blog. But also keep those letters to the editor, guest columns and Web comments coming. They help keep us, and the people we write about, on their toes.