Salisbury Post: Meeting time, lack of contact information on website limit accessibility to City Council members

From the Salisbury Post (10/30/11): Unless you do some digging and have an understanding boss, it can be tough to contact Salisbury City Council members or see them in action.

The Council meets twice a month at 4 p.m., when most people are still at work. Salisbury has the only elected board in Rowan County that doesn’t meet after 5 p.m.

“There are many times that issues have come up that I would love to go to the City Council meetings, but I can’t,” said Bob Lambrecht, owner of Critters Cards & Gifts, which closes at 6 p.m. “I have to work.”

Salisbury does not list council members’ email addresses or phone numbers on the city website. To contact their elected officials, constituents must look up home numbers in the phone book, know where council members work, find their email addresses another way or contact City Hall to send an email to the city clerk, who then forwards it.

Websites for Statesville, Concord, Mooresville, Lexington, Kannapolis and Rowan County include email and phone information for each member of the governing board. Even Spencer and Landis websites offer individual email addresses.

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