Lessons in Public Service...

-------- Your tax dollars at work ---------

When I heard it.... it bothered me......!!

Monday evening at the ..... the Municipality of Barrington Council Meeting I watched with interest as private citizens who had been kept in the dark about a mink ranch development initiative, questioned the Warden and Council members and sought to stop the project.

Then I heard Councillor El-Jakl and Warden Halliday .... each state that they personally had done the best they could for the municipality, ensuring that everything that was done, " ...was done legally...". Something about those statements bothered me and over the last few days the thought has been buzzing around in my head .... what's wrong with doing things legally?

Of course.... that's not the problem.... the problem is that elected officials and public servants aren't just called upon to do things legally..... they are required by the positions they have been entrusted with to... "...do the right thing...".

That dear reader is more.... indeed much more... than doing things legally.

Rather, my fellow citizens .... in addition to meeting legal requirements, we expect elected officials and hired staff in our governments to use common sense, their training, skills, connections and experience to guide their interventions on behalf of the public.... and we expect them to seek expert advice and public input without hesitation when appropriate if the public's interests might be at risk or if the public has private and/or collective interests that might be impacted by decisions made by government.

On the other hand.... it is hard to see how the public can be expected to participate and provide meaningful, constructive input into government deliberations if those charged with the responsibility of providing government services, insist on keeping public information and deliberations secreted to the back-rooms by using trumped-up pretexts to justify in camera sessions and confidentiality.

Oh... and to make sure I am not misunderstood.... my view is that this tendency to secrecy is not a new phenomenon and did not start with the present pool of elected officials and civil servants... the problem has existed for some time and unfortunately it is now being visited on people who have simply continued to do things they way they were always done.

Solution.....!! Stop doing things the way they were always done .... and devise ways to conduct public affairs in a manner that ensures that the public is informed and engaged so that they can contribute to the healthy conduct of public affairs.

My two cents!

Ed