Open meetings law

The situation our district finds itself in right now — failed budgets, failed bond votes, upset and angry parents, dejected children — isn’t somebody else’s fault. It’s a direct result of the persistent lack of candor on display at every carefully scripted board meeting — of the board and a series of superintendents being consistently unwilling to give people straight answers to straight questions about subjects that are, in fact, the people’s business.

Local governments have come a long way in achieving transparency in public meetings, in large measure thanks to technological advances and the internet, but they've still got a long way to go.

After nearly 20 years of local news reporting, I could fill a book with stories of government officials trying to prevent reporters — and hence, the public — from finding out what they’re up to.

What happens in Vegas... The old maxim may or may not apply to what happens in executive sessions of the town board, as members today got into an argument over who has — or hasn't — been leaking discussions held behind closed doors to members of the public and town employees.

Column: The seven elected trustees go through the motions of a public meeting once or twice a month. But the real meetings, where policy is discussed and decisions are made, take place behind closed doors. Illegally.

In a letter to the town board, leaders of the organizations complain that agendas are often not posted until just prior to meetings — or not at all.

I shouldn't be admitting this during Sunshine Week, but I don't believe open government is truly an attainable goal — in fact I think it's less attainable now in this high-tech world we live in. Ironic, right?

In government, it's not easy being scrutinized and second-guessed about everything. I know. But in government, the business you're conducting is the public's business. And the public has aAll I can say, folks, is get a grip. The public is not the enemy. In government, it's not easy being scrutinized and second-guessed about everything. I know. But in government, the business you're conducting is the public's business. And the public has a right to know what's going on, and a right to express their opinions.