The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Philip H. during the 2009-2010 League.

Mission: Observe a Local Meeting

This past September I attended a library board meeting for the Shiawassee District Library. The primary issue discussed during the evening revolved around whether or not there should be any unfiltered computers in the public library.

The policy of the library with regards to computers has traditionally been to filter out all inappropriate content on all but two of the computers. The controversy began when a young girl was exposed to pornography when she walked past one of the unfiltered computers. This sparked a movement to filter all – instead of most – computers at the library.

At the meeting there was very large turnout at of people – upwards of three hundred – attending which underscored the importance that the people attached to the issue. The meeting started out by reviewing the minutes of the last library board meeting and approving the schedule for the current evening. Interestingly, one of the events which had been planned to take place that night – namely voting on a resolution to filter all computers at the library – was inexplicably omitted from the schedule; upon seeing this, library board member Bev Adcock objected and attempted to put the vote back on the schedule. However, she was overruled and the meeting continued without the vote on the schedule. Following the approval of the schedule was some time for the public to share their opinion on the issues. This lasted for close to two hours due to the large turnout on the volatile issue being discussed. The overwhelming public sentiment of those in attendance was that the library should filter all the computers. Proponents of complete filtering argued that such an action was necessary in order to 1) protect the children of Owosso, and 2) Because allowing pornography use in public libraries was morally wrong according to the Bible. Opposition to filtering all computers was for the most part limited to the idea that such a move would be an invasion of people’s rights to freely use the public computers. After the public hearings, Board member Adcock pushed strongly for an impromptu vote on the resolution that had previously been tabled for the evening. The opposition to this movement was based upon the grounds that the board had already voted against deciding on the resolution that evening and it was therefore a technical violation to suddenly introduce a new vote. Nevertheless, from strong public pressure and pressing by Adcock, the resolution was voted upon and passed 6-1. This, for the most part, concluded the evening.

Attending this meeting gave me firsthand experience observing a largely ignored area of government – local council meetings. This opportunity certainly broadened my understanding of how local board meetings operate and how important they are to a properly functioning city. I will definitely look forward to the next chance I get to observe meetings at the local government level!