Saving Rolle

I attended the special town council meeting last night, with about 50 or so others. Having sat through a very well controlled meeting, orchestrated by the Town clerk and the Mayor, I came to the conclusion that much of what was said became window dressing
Many members of the public spoke and the councilors listened, or did they? I say that, because at the end of Public participation a strongly worded pre-prepared motion was put to the councillors and that was passed nem-con.
I have no beef with the councilors passing a motion as they did but what worries me is that it came pre-prepared as a package drafted before the public had their say and having no chance to either modify or even challenge what actions the council appear to be going to take on.
Democracy at work or what?