Government Transparency

By the time this is read local elections will be over and winners announced. I wanted to share with you some comments on the issue of transparency in local governance Warrenville style. This issue has been raised from time to time by candidates of different stripes.

In my opinion we have transparency. The city council’s meetings are an open book for all to see, read and study. Questions are readily answered one on one with city staff and council members – aldermen and mayor. Further, the local newspaper provides background information, current articles, white papers covering the history of important issues, and archive files on all of this plus a letters section for readers to pose their questions and opinions on sundry issues. And get answers in return for their questions! A community dialogue is thus encouraged.

If anyone believes the city is hiding behind closed doors or secret meetings of committees, commissions or task forces, they are mistaken. Having served on the council for four years I know there are no discussions or group phone calls among council members on any issue. All business is conducted in the open and well documented. There isn’t enough time to do it any other way.

It takes work to attend all the public meetings. Yet elected officials and staff do attend these meetings. Not very many citizens do, however. It also takes concentration to follow all the details. If a citizen wants to know something all he/she has to do is the footwork or read the newspaper. It is easy to make public comments and grandstand endlessly posing questions designed not to be answered. That does not make Warrenville more transparent.

If the city were to report in detail all fire and police calls, all invoices incurred and paid, and countless other details of every day governance operations, the city would have more expense and get less done. Meanwhile these details are not hidden. They are available if you want to spend some time. Your time and expense, not the city’s or taxpayers!

Which will it be? Your time or city staff’s time you pay to get our business accomplished? Why would anyone want to hide information from citizens? It would be costly, difficult and illegal to do so. So it is not done.

While we are at it, will it be your time and effort or the newspapers? The paper does it for you. At no cost. This provides transparency to the governance of the community. The paper is free. All citizens need to do is read it to be informed. If a citizen thinks the paper is missing something, tell them and the paper will look into it. Need help understanding something? Ask the paper!

While you’re at it, please donate time and money to the local newspaper to keep it operating. In our case the paper is a non-profit, volunteer publication for the good of the community. Don’t like what you see? Help them be better.  Today!

April 3, 2013