This coming Saturday, Feb. 7 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Bremerton City Council will be holding a joint planning session with the mayor and department directors at the Gold Mountain Golf Course Clubhouse.

I have been to more than one of these types of meetings over the years. At times they have been called “council retreats” instead of “joint planning sessions.” One year there was a paid professional facilitator who ran the meeting. I must say I personally gained the most useful information out of that one. Other years it has been the sitting council president who presides over the meeting.

The common theme through the years is that this is an opportunity for the council to move forward with a list of goals it wants to see accomplished. One year school safety issues were at the top of the list. In another year it was an extensive discussion on how to move forward possible solutions to abandoned or chronic nuisance properties within the city. This is something the council did achieve through the passage of more than one new city ordinance.

I am happy to see that the venue has changed to something that is more open, accessible and welcoming to the public. Typically it has been the rather small and cramped mayor’s conference room that has been used. As an attending member of the public, that particular room made it difficult at times to see and hear everything that was being discussed.

Also, unless you are familiar with where the room is located on the typically secure sixth floor of the Norm Dicks building, trying to get to it can be rather daunting and intimidating.

Gold Mountain Golf Course is a city public property. In fact it falls under the oversight of the parks and recreation department of which I am one of the volunteer and appointed commissioners.

This past summer as the commission was discussing parks funding issues, options and challenges, we held one of our funding meetings up at the clubhouse to get a better feel of the property and how it impacts the city. The location is easy to find and the rooms are open and comfortable.

One of the items to be presented at this year’s joint planning session by the parks and recreation director is a rather extensive funding summary and list of short term recommendations from the parks and recreation commission.

The commission held a series of extra meetings in addition to our normal monthly meetings over nearly an entire year, combing through funding sources and options that do or could exist and a significant number of ones that are no longer available for a long list of reasons.

It is my hope that the council uses the coming session to tackle a number of issues that are going to need decisions sooner rather than later and do so in a more transparent, open and accountable manner for all of their meetings going forward.

Holding so many important public meetings in tight little rooms with cramped seating and audio-only recordings continues to be a disservice to citizens.

All while the main council chamber with video recording capability goes entirely underutilized yet remains highly subsidized by local taxpayer dollars when it could easily perform the open civic services it was specifically built to provide.