The volunteers at Better Brady Now are going to try something that, as far as we can tell, has never been done in Brady before. We are going to host a meeting specifically to Listen to You, the people of Brady at the Heart of Texas Event Center (804 San Angelo Highway) at 6:00 PM on Thursday, September 20, 2012.

All the citizens of Brady, including City officials, are welcome to come and take their turn at the microphone.

No one knows how it will turn out. The result could be anything from echos in an empty meeting room to more people with something to say than there is time to listen. As with all first efforts, it will be imperfect, and an important learning experience.

The overriding theme is that we want to listen and learn, not preach and promote.

The people moderating the meeting will spend no more than ten minutes talking. They will lay out some ground rules and introduce a few suggested topics. Then the microphone will be turned over to anyone who has something to say about the issues facing City Government in Brady. The plan is to stay until everyone has a chance to say their piece, no matter how long it takes. If that proves impossible, we will schedule another meeting soon.

Simple Ground Rules:

• Respect others. If you want others to respectfully listen to what you have to say, you will have to respectfully listen to what they have to say.
• Stick to principles and Issues. Avoid talking about people and personalities.
• Be considerate of others who may want to talk.  Think about what you want to say beforehand, be brief and hope others do the same.
• There are no scheduled speakers or "ringers". The microphone will pass to whoever is next - First come, First served.

Topics

Because there is a time deadline coming next week, we would like to hear what you have to say about the petition to force the City of Brady to hold an election before borrowing money with Certificates of Obligation first.

After everyone has had their say on the petition, the meeting will be open for citizens to bring up any topic pertaining to City Government they want. These could include utility distribution charges, overall city spending or specific city policies or projects.

The primary purpose of this meeting is to let You, the people of Brady speak and be heard by your fellow citizens.

If you have questions, we will try to answer them if you want us to. Bear in mind that this puts us in the position of talking instead of listening. If you would rather hear more from other people in the audience, write your questions down and put them in the Questions box at the back. Include some way for us to contact you. One of the BBN volunteers will do their best to answer them directly or in the next meeting.