Riva City Council Attendance and Participation Analysis 2000

In 2000, the Riva City Council met 24 times: at least according to the statistics from the municipal offices responsible for distributing attendance tokens—each councilor received a gross amount of 50,000 lire per session.

In reality, there was also a meeting that was interrupted at the outset due to a lack of a quorum; and two other informal meetings took place, dedicated to traffic issues (with Dellai) and to the alternative “long tunnel” proposal (with engineer Paolo Ferrari).

Ranking of the most and least committed councilors

Beyond the “tokens” (which certainly won’t make anyone rich), the statistics allow us to determine both the most dedicated and the least enthusiastic about proceedings in the assembly.

Thus, we find that the “always present” councilors—meaning those present 24 times out of 24—are the Margherita group leader Paolo Matteotti, his colleague Salvador Valandro, and two opposition councilors: Giuseppe Ravanelli (An) and Mario Daves (Riva Community).

Among the less consistent attendees at Riva’s elected assembly, the rankings are headed by Alberto Ballardini (Ds, 15 presences), followed by Alfredo D’Agostino (Margherita, 18), Marco Manzoni (Far), and Aurelio Delaini (Forza Italia).

According to the statistics, the longest council meeting lasted five and a half hours, while the shortest occupied councilors for only 62 minutes.

Duration and participation in city council meetings

The variable length of city council meetings introduces another aspect not captured by the statistics: actual presence “in the chamber” beyond the formal roll call (which is used for the token).

On this front, it is the same council president, Tomaso Benamati (who was absent only once and always diligently remained at his post to oversee proceedings), who does not hesitate to issue a significant appeal to the Rivana councilors.

“In the chamber,” he says, “there’s the issue of ‘appearance behaviors’, that is, councilors who arrive, stay for a while, then disappear, perhaps returning after dinner.

It’s a problem that often challenges the majority. I believe there should be a more genuine and responsible presence.”

Criticisms and regulations

That said, Benamati also highlights another aspect that sometimes makes the councils dull and less effective: the excessive verbosity of some interventions.

“But on the other hand,” he explains, “we have a regulation that allows this, and I, therefore, cannot do anything about it. Aside from that, my role as president does not encounter difficulties. I have a good relationship both with majority and opposition councilors.”