Woodbury Town Hall Meeting March 9

I attended the Town Hall meeting at City Hall on March 9. 

It was announced that this was State Representative Andrea Kieffer’s Town Hall and that she was the host.  It was also advertised as a discussion where folks could discuss issues that matter to Woodbury, Maplewood and Landfall. 

Woodbury Mayor Mary Giuliani Stevens opened the event and Congresswoman McCollum warmly welcomed all of the attendees to the event. She talked about business opportunities in our district.  She talked about making smart and tough decisions.  When she gave a plain speaking understanding of the “sequester,” several of the members of the audience raised their voices and called Congresswoman McCollum a liar. 

Representative McCollum asked for civility and said that if the audience was not respectful we would have to end the Town Hall.  She then got a round of applause. Mayor Stevens and the Congressman showed real leadership getting to a civil discussion.

I would have liked to have seen leadership from Representative Kieffer, as the
host of the meeting, to put the meeting back on a civil track, but she did not.  I was surprised at the operations of the meeting.  There weren’t enough chairs, the room was too full, it was too hot and there was no defined process to take questions. 

I was impressed with Betty McCollum’s knowledge and understanding of the issues at the federal and state level.  The ovations that she received were too numerous to count.

After getting past the shouting from unruly audience members, a number of local
citizens asked probing questions about defense appropriations, Medicare fraud and pharmaceutical purchasing.  Many good comments came out.  Betty McCollum was factual, open and honest about her answers.  She said that she would look at trimming, cutting and prioritizing.  She told members of the audience that her staff would get back to each person who wanted individual answers. 

All of the elected official should be honored for their time and their bravery for serving the public and talking about tough issues with concerned citizens.  It is very understandable that people have strong opinions about important topics. This is Woodbury.   We have civil conversations about difficult topics.  If Woodbury residents want an actual conversation about hard issues where everyone can be heard, be careful who sets up the meeting or you might not actually be heard.