In 35 years of attending meetings in various companies, I think that perhaps only 10% accomplished anything. Most work is done outside of meetings. Meetings are mostly to brief management on what is going on. They interfere with accomplishing tasks as they tie up the very people needed to do those tasks. An effective meeting requires a written agenda, an action item list and meeting minutes. (I always volunteered to take the minutes and update the actions. That way, regardless of what was “accomplished” I got what I needed done worked on.)
The mayor may find that the meeting is against various laws and codes. For example, can a state or local intelligence agency share their undercover ops? Would they want to? (If I was undercover, the answer would be no.)
The mayor, who is the problem, is looking for a lot of sound and fury to make it appear they are doing something, when, in fact, the cop’s hands are tied.
I was at a meeting and asked,
“If this is important enough to have a meeting, then shouldn’t it be important enough to keep a record of the meeting?”
I received a memo that afternoon notifying me that my attendance was no longer required at these meetings.