Discusion of Political Meetings

During the second semester of government class, I was given an identification to att decease three public confluxs. I chose to attend a city Council meeting, a Republican Party meeting, and a elected Party meeting. The starting signal meeting I attended was a City Council meeting at City Hall. The purpose of this meeting was to determine what actions the city of Havre should take regarding the refreshing-made legalization of medical checkup marijuana use in Montana. The setting of this meeting was semiformal. The meeting was called to order and the city council members began discussing contrast.The council began the meeting by discussing flow rate regularize districts. in that respect was a lot of confusion regarding the zoning of businesses in Havre. There are several different partitions in Havre, including Residential, Commercial General, and Commercial Intermediate. Currently, there are areas where governs overlap. In addition, there are businesses that are curre ntly cosmos part withed to operate in incorrect zones. They didnt know which businesses or how many an(prenominal) this applied to. The council members agreed that they needed to get a map that showed the current layout of the zoning districts.The inconsistencies with current zoning left the city with no manner to regulate any medical marijuana businesses opening up in Havre. Since businesses in Havre are already being allowed to operate in areas that werent zoned for them, the city could not stop a medical marijuana business from opening anywhere in Havre. Secondly, there wasnt a zone currently defined that would apply to a medical marijuana business. It briefly became clear to the city council that in front they could purge begin to address the cope of medical marijuana, they needed to get the zoning exits figured out.One of the council members mentioned that the set offs regarding zoning was premier brought to the City Councils attention two years ago when a casino had been considering opening up in the old Tip Top exposure location. He mentioned that businesses in Havre were allowed to open up anywhere regardless of which zone it was and that it only became a problem when a business asked first. Another fare regarding medical marijuana businesses in Havre was how to regulate them. Currently, there was no substance of knowing how many were operating in Havre.The city did not conduct businesses to have a license and so that limited the citys options. Other communities that required licenses were having an easier time regulated these businesses. By the end of the meeting, the council was in agreement that there should be a moratorium placed on new businesses opening up in the unlawful zones until these ordinances could be figured out. The city council agreed that the city not only needs to keep a closer eye on where new businesses were opening up further become more aware of businesses that are operating in the wrong zone.A motion was made fo r a moratorium to be placed to not allow for zoning variances for all businesses, including medical marijuana, for the next 60 days. It was seconded and passed. At the end of the meeting, people were allowed to express their use ups and opinions. Rowlie Hutton discussed the availability of drugs in the community and his concern that medical marijuana would only make the current problem worse. He as well offered to pray for the city council members so that they would be subject to make the ripe decisions.The owner of a gun business in Havre expressed his concern that medical marijuana businesses would be allowed to operate in undisclosed locations. He felt that there needed to be more regulations and requirements for them. It is clear that the issue of medical marijuana is complicated and emotional. The second meeting I attended was a Democratic Party meeting. This meeting was very informal. The first issue of business was their budget. Currently, there was a balance of $2016. 00 in their checking account. They seemed pretty activated about that. Upcoming elections and candidates were discussed.They wanted to set up two set off candidate forums in the newspaper as quickly as possible, before the primary election. Holding a forum at the high naturalize auditorium was suggested. . It was in any case recommended that the radio stations to broadcast it live. The Harvest Dinner military commission also presented their report. A group of five people was needed to set up tables and chairs. It was suggested to schedule the dinner after fiesta Days, but as early in October as possible. The agenda was set up for a dinner at 600, speeches at 700 and silent auction off at 800.Senator Baucus, Senator Tester, and Governor Schweitzer were to be invited to speak. The dinner menu was also discussed as well as setting up a decorating committee. The arrangement of candidate signs was also discussed. It was implied that the Democrats ceaselessly use the right size sig ns and always place them in the proper place. While the Republicans, on the other hand, never follow the rules at all. Several other topics were discussed including plans for the quartern of July, the drilling of water wells and the new transportation system. The final meeting I attended was the Republican Party meeting on May 13.After the welcome, the treasurers report was given. There was $3473. 84 available so they would be able to afford their monthly services. The upcoming Hill County GOP Convention in Billings was discussed. At this meeting new areas of business were brought up. First, campaign contributions to candidates were discussed. Candidates are allowed to accept up to $800. 00 in donations from any political parties. They decided to give $2920. 00 in donations to the candidates. The $150,000 debt of the suppose GOP was discussed. Each county was to raise $500. 00 to help pay off the debt.They decided they would donate $100. 00 for the next five months. Other new busi ness included plans for the Fourth of July, a vacation raffle, the booth at the Great Northern Fair, and Festival Days. After the new business, old business regarding the redistricting and apportionment meeting and uncreated Election were talked about. An update on the candidate was also given. The meeting was adjourned after a period of open comment. I found that all the meetings I went to were interesting.I was surprised to see how different the Republican and the Democratic meetings were. For xample, the democrats spoke under the weather of the Republicans and accused them of not following the rules. The democrats also seemed less organized then the Republicans. At the Republican meeting, I was asked why I was there and still asked to join or help out at some of their functions. I never paid much attention to elections before or even thought about how much goes on behind the scenes. Both of these parties, obviously, maneuver an important part in every election. After attendi ng, the meetings of both the Democratic and Republican Parties, I do see the importance of volunteering.