Negative Loop

While the cleanup of public management comments can appear to be for the betterment of the City, there are other explanations for the demonstrations of council members. “It’s grandstanding,” and council members are notorious for this — for saying one thing one month and then three months later, coming around and trying to look like the hero in the media by accusing the Council and staff of not taking care of business when really, they’re just grandstanding. Sometimes they are gearing up for the next election or positioning to be council president, and they want to portray themselves as cost-savers and good financial managers and that sort of thing. When in reality, grandstanding is really a “negative feedback loop” between the public and council members.
If only negative feedback mechanisms are governing a system, we call this loop "imploding". For a rather exaggerated example, think of a person who loses appetite when preoccupied. Once she starts to worry, she loses weight; therefore being even more preoccupied seeing her state and losing even more weight, and so on. If nothing else stops this vicious circle (e.g. a societal help), imploding feedback loop leads to the self-destruction of the system.
Here, it’s during the correspondence agenda item that council meetings get hijacked by council members on a personal mission without any real thought of what may be best for the city.” They become grandstanders conducting themselves showily or ostentatiously in an attempt to impress onlookers rather then complete business. Public meetings were not created as opportunities for elected officials (or wannabe elected officials) to impress each other, the media or the public. The purpose of a public meeting is to accomplish the public’s business in as productive, efficient and professional manner as possible. There are generally systems set up to deal with their issues outside the business meeting where sticking the agenda is the mission.
Understanding the role and scope of responsibility of the Council may sometimes appear to be a daunting task with the sometimes conflicting goals of properly representing the City, being concerned with the entire community, keeping the lines of communication open, being conscious of your relationship to the rest of the City Council and City staff, and establishing a good relationship with other members. Inappropriate actions at Council meetings will damage many relationships.
Governance of a City relies on the cooperative efforts of elected officials, who set policy, and City staff, who implements and administers the Council’s policies. Therefore, every effort should be made to be cooperative and show mutual respect for the contributions made by each individual for the good of the community.