A letter written to the Ames City Council from the Government of the Student Body was recognized at the City Council meeting Tuesday.

William Rock, GSB vice president, brought the council’s attention to a letter he wrote with GSB President Sophia Magill, addressing the response of the City Council to students’ support of a petition for shortening council term lengths from four to two years.

According to the letter, the petition was introduced by students independent of, but supported by, GSB at the previous council meeting. Students said the petition was met with surprise and displeasure by council members at their last meeting, and they were critical of the proposal. The petitioners interpreted that reaction as hostile, Rock said, and students left the previous meeting feeling offended.

Rock said he was there to address the council and ask the members for a “show of good faith” and assurance that the council’s criticism of the petition was not meant to be a personal attack toward students. He said he was apologetic about not being at the previous meeting himself.

“I recommend some future official recognition of no harm being meant,” Rock said. “It would go a long way in the spirit of ‘one community.'”

Rock also said the letter spoke about GSB’s continued efforts to seek new and better ways to serve and represent constituents, and asked that the council do the same.

The letter recommended an apology for any misunderstanding created at the meeting by petitioners, and that further avenues for making city government accessible to all constituents be explored.

According to the letter, one of the recommendations of the Commission on Improving Community Relations Among ISU Students, the University, the City of Ames and the Ames Community was for an annual summit of local governments to be held, and the letter went on to propose that one of the topics addressed at the first summit would be about how to better serve constituents and how to increase accessibility to local governments.

Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco said he appreciated the feedback Rock and Magill provided.

In other business:

• The council also approved a request for the closure of City Parking Lot “MM” on March 20 in order for a peace rally to be held. The parking lot is located on the far west side of City Hall.

The rally is taking place to commemorate the second anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq, and is being sponsored by ISU student groups, including Solidarity and Time for Peace.

• The council approved curriculum for Civics 101, a class designed to help Ames citizens better understand the community in which they live.

• The council passed both the second and third readings of the ordinances to change the Human Relations Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission terms from three years to one year.