It’s clear, this council has erected a negative public image and trust wall with its deliberate actions to block transparency. In addition to its previous barriers, like not promptly informing the public about multi-million dollar financial mishaps and a secretive botched administrator search, council effectively ensured the public was prevented from having access to budget details by not publishing the budget worksheet online.
Adding insult to that injury, only one budget worksheet book was secured in the county administrative building for all 21,000 residents to review, standing as a sobering testimony to the great lengths this council will go to avoid transparency.
“The Book” is just another brick in the wall of council’s avoidance of public engagement. Citizens used to have access to a half a dozen online budget-supporting documents.
The beginning of the end of transparency started with council’s continual voting for general meeting agendas that violate their own agenda bylaws by not including the required second public comment session. That action, obviously, emboldened council to erect these barriers to public engagement.
The public cannot trust a council that is so afraid of transparency, especially when transparency is a universally accepted component of good governance. In fact, transparency is an imperative to uphold the rights of citizens to know about their government’s activities. Furthermore, transparency can help make a local government more attractive to businesses that might want to invest in Fairfield. No one can deny that it’s lunacy to limit outside investment due to lack of transparency in a county already mired in a nearly four-year economic development drought.
One of the best actions this council can initiate for its public image would be to host a town hall meeting every quarter where the questions that are fostered by nearly every regular council meeting could be addressed.
Town hall meetings – in addition to facilitating online access to all the supporting budget documents and following council’s own bylaws – are imperative first steps to righting this struggling county.
Randy Bright
Ridgeway
