You pay taxes for city representation, and your elected officials need to be focused on your needs.  You have hired them to fulfill your agenda, not some third-party’s agenda in Seattle or elsewhere. You are their boss, and your needs are important.

So how do you remind your officials what your needs are, and make sure your officials remain focused on them during the four years between elections?

You speak to the Council and Mayor, send letters and emails to the Council and Mayor, phone the Council and Mayor, contact the media, and stage rallies and protests if necessary.

And you don’t do it just once.  You do it as many times as it takes to get your message across.  Summon the same conviction you would if you paid someone to fix your car, and they took your money but didn’t fix your car.

Speak to the Council and Mayor: 

Speaking at a Council meeting is the best way to ensure that the Council and Mayor get your message without interference or miscommunication.  Renton Council Meetings are generally held the first four Mondays of every month, and each regular meeting typically has an audience comment section near the beginning of the meeting.  You need to sign up to speak in advance of the meeting.

You can find out when the next meeting is, and follow the links to sign up, by clicking the Council Webpage here.

You’ll typically only be given three minutes to speak to the Council, so it’s a good idea to have your comments prepared and possibly even written out in advance.

Be polite, but don’t waste too much time on pleasantries.  We used to give speakers five minutes (and another five minutes at the end of each meeting), which allowed for longer, friendlier greetings, but with a mere 180 seconds to make your points, you can’t be blamed for being abrupt.

Open your comments with a clear statement of what point you are going to make and what you are specifically requesting, before you start making your arguments.  This will help the elected officials stay focused on your reasoning.

For example, you could open with:  “Hi, my name is ____________.  I’m here because I am opposed to the __________ project, and I am requesting that you to put an end to it.”  After you have made your request, explain the reasons you feel this way.  Then ideally restate your  request again at the end.  “So please end ___________ now.  Thank you.”

If your comments take more than three minutes, find someone who will go with you to the meeting and complete the arguments.  They can open with, “Hi, I’m here with ______, and I’m also opposed to the ___________ project.  I’m going to share additional reasons we are asking you to stop it. ”  Then they can  add more content.

Find as many people as you need to make your position and arguments known, three minutes at a time.

After you are done, provide the Council and Mayor with a written copy of the testimony you provided, ideally including the names of the speakers.  If you have a hard copy with you at the Council Meeting you can hand a copy to the City Clerk.  You should also email it to the Council and Mayor after you are home, so that everyone gets it electronically.

Write to the Council and Mayor:

Send letters and emails to the Council….lots of them.  Letters delivered by the postal service have a high impact due to their formality.  You can send one letter to the Council and one to the Mayor, and the Council Liaison will ensure each Council Member gets a copy.  You can request that the Council President ask to have your mailed letter read into the Council Record during the correspondence section of the agenda.  If it’s read, the City Clerk will ordinarily summarize it, but that will bring Council’s attention to it.

Emails can be sent to:  the Mayor at mayor@rentonwa.gov and the Council at council@rentonwa.gov.

Letters can be sent to:

Renton City Council
1055 South Grady Way
Renton, WA
98057

Attention: Renton Council or Attention: Renton Mayor

When I was on Council I typically read every piece of mailed and emailed correspondence I received from constituents.  I think most Renton Council Members try to.  But there are a lot of routine status reports, committee minutes, invitations, and other reading in the Council Members mail and email streams, so it’s possible that Council Members may miss a message here and there.  Therefore it’s only reasonable to send a follow-up message if you don’t hear back with assurance that they understand your concern and are working on it.  You may need to remind them more than once, especially if the item is important to you.  Again, think of it like waiting to get your car repaired, and not hearing back for the repair shop.  Message them until you get a satisfactory response.

Hearing from one constituent making sound arguments is good, but hearing from many is much, much better.  The more people that you can get to write to the Council and Mayor, the better.  If you have an issue that’s important to your neighborhood or even the whole city, use every communication channel you have to get people to send emails and letters to the Council on the topic.

Phone the Council and Mayor:

Through your taxes you are paying a hefty City Hall phone bill, so those phones are there for you.  Call your City Officials, and discuss your concerns with them.  If you get put through to voicemail, leave detailed messages and ask for return calls back.  Sometimes a staff member will answer, and if they do you can ask them to leave a written message for the elected official, with your name, phone number, and a description of your concern.  Business interests and other government officials use these phones constantly to call your elected officials, and there’s no reason that you, as the official’s boss who pays for the phone, can’t call them as well.

Council can be reached at 425-430-6501.

The Mayor can be reached at 425-430-6500

Remember, during their campaigns many of these officials mailed to your home four or five times, and some even left you phone messages.  They may have also knocked on your door a few times. Now is the time for you and your friends to return the favor.

Contact the media: 

If you feel your issue is potentially one of broad interest, either because it is a city-wide concern or it’s so novel it will generate interest, contact the media and try to get them engaged in sharing your story.  TV news stations and newspaper reporters are typically looking for interesting stories, and if they cover yours it could help get the seriousness of your message out to your elected representatives.  It may also inspire other members of the community to send their own letters and email into City Hall.

Renton Reporter can be contacted here:

909 S. 336th Street, Suite 105
Federal Way, WA 98003
888-838-3000

Reporter
Bailey Jo Josie
baileyjo.josie@soundpublishing.com

Reporter
Joshua Solorzano
joshua.solorzano@soundpublishing.com

Reporter
Drew Dotson
drew.dotson@rentonreporter.com

Contact info for other newspapers and TV stations can be found by googling the name of the station with the words “news tips”

If you fail to get the attention you are looking for, stage a rally or protest.

If it’s just a few of you walking together on a sidewalk, you can generally just get your picket signs and go.  If its a larger event, or may escalate into one, contact the Renton Police at 425-430-7500 and let them know your plans; ask for specific recommendations for how to keep it orderly and safe.  Renton’s police will respect and assist your exercising of your first amendment rights to assemble and petition your officials.

The images I’ve used are from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The Hogwarts Wizarding School would like to enroll Harry as a student, and  his adopted family doesn’t want him to get the message.  The scene can be your inspiration: