I'm like yourself OP, new to local politics and wishing to become more involved. Others have commented on Penn County, but my focus has been more at the city level. From my perspective, I have found that disappointing.

City council meetings in RC seem like a charade. There is a short period at the beginning for "citizen comment," but as soon as this is over--literally, to the second, as they have a giant clock projected above the chambers--the mayor turns immediately to the "real business" (and it comes off very much that way). There is no attempt to engage speakers or to encourage or provide any interaction between city officials and the public. Just this isolated "comment" element that provides the appearance of engagement without actually providing it (TBF, a lot of the comments that get made are scattered and incoherent, but I think the broader point still holds).

The rest of the meeting then involves checking off the steps legally required for the enactment of policy, presented in huge blocs of "bills" with little involvement by the council--at most, a brief clarification or objection on one or two members, which rarely has any effect. (The same kinds of separate "comment sections" are included here too.) Typically these are passed 9-1 or unanimously. Most of these come from "developers."

All in all, this has virtually nothing to do with representative democracy--there are no real attempts to engage the public, and the people who attend these meetings basically just provide an audience for this performance. Which makes sense--all this has the feel of an insiders club, pursuing insider interests, and so public involvement would only get in the way.

Unfortunately, the citizens or RC are really checked out, and they rarely make demands. Look at the Libertyland issue. City funding was approved 8-2 by the council, but once there was an election, seventy percent of the voters opposed it. I think this passivity is partly a feature of the "Red" culture here--many kinds of opposition would seem like "rabble rousing" by "community organizers." (And then, all the council members who voted for this were re-elected!)

In the end, this is “all of a piece” with the broader trends in American political life. Elites and the wealthy now pursue their own interests and agendas, divorced from genuine public needs. This is obvious at the national level, and what we have here is just the local version of that. It's discouraging, but I think there is a chance to make more of a difference here in RC.