February 2023 by Katie Claypool
I attended a "Board of Director's" meeting at NOACA. When I arrived, the lobby was jam packed with members of the public and the NOACA staff present seemed unprepared and confused as to what their policy is regarding the public attending. The board members who were arriving were quickly ushered upstairs without question, while members of the public were limited. I signed in to speak, and the staff claimed they temporarily lost that sign in sheet and also gave differing reason as to why they were denying the public the opportunity to speak. NOACA only allows public attendence of 27 people and then that number changed to 26, with the claim it has to do with fire code. To me it was hard to believe the number could change if they in fact had a set policy in place, and it is unexcusable to have a region with a population of millions to have seating arrangements for 26 people. NOACA is a threat to our region and hopefully the board meeting was a wake up call that perhaps the board member should practice what they preach when they claim to value public outreach. When you present lies, you are only fooling yourself and that is exactly what NOACA is doing.
