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from the public. A likely location for such a forum would be the Library Community Room. The option to televise the forum is available through TV-30. • Carolyn Siegfried and Community Television TV-30: Following the example described above, Carolyn Siegfried is also willing to partner with the City. She is willing to moderate the event on her own or in partnership with the Pleasanton Weekly. Alternatively, the City could request that TV-30 produce a "live", in- studio program with experts assembled and a possible call-in format for the community. TV-30 has demonstrated experience with this type of format, especially when hosting various tri-valley elected officials at the studio to discuss various programs, services and activities which warrant public outreach and education. • Congressman McNerney Pleasanton and other cities throughout the Tri-Valley have historically benefited from various town meetings with state and federal representatives. Elected officials routinely host these meetings as an opportunity to conduct outreach with constituents and encourage dialogue on various state and national topics. Such a meeting could be hosted by the Congressman either in Pleasanton or at another nearby location within the Congressman's district. Although staff has contacted McNerney's office to initiate a discussion on this matter, at the time of the writing of this report, a dialogue with the Congressman's staff has not yet taken place. CONCLUSION The initial step is for Council to determine whether it wishes to pursue this matter and decide whether a forum should be scheduled to allow the public to voice their opinion on the Iraq War: If the decision is to organize such a forum, staff will need guidance on the format, content, meeting moderation and end result, based on the options described above. While staff understands the Council's interest in responding to public interest regarding this matter, it recommends the City not be directly involved in hosting, arranging or conducting the forum, due to the sensitive and polarizing nature of the topic at the local level. While a discussion and debate of local, state and national policy issues is something that the City normally embraces (in fact, Pleasanton is well known for its open and community-based form of governance), staff remains concerned that such a discussion could dominate our local agenda for several months. Alternatively, staff suggests that the matter be referred to our local Congressman for disposition or another option listed in the body of this report be considered. Congressional representatives often hold town meetings or community workshops within their congressional districts to discuss issues and matters before Congress. It appears that this would be an appropriate topic for our federal representative, while also satisfying a need for dialogue within our community. The other options listed in this report would also achieve the same objective. Page 3 of 4