What happens when the sun shines on local government
It’s Sunshine Week, when newspapers across the county highlight the
importance of government openness and transparency and remind people of the
importance of the Freedom of Information Act.
Even with the tremendous amount of media available today — the traditional media plus constantly updated news websites, 24/7 news channels and ever-growing social media — government still tries to keep some activities in the shadows. That’s why it’s important for those of us in the media to remain ever-watchful of what our government is doing, from the federal government all the way down to city councils and school boards. Shedding light on government helps it stay on the straight and narrow.
Frank Wallis, one of our reporters here at Sixth and Hickory, has a favorite story about how a city council in Bell, Calif., fell off the media’s radar and no one covered or reported on its meetings. After a few years, the Los Angeles Times was investigating possible malfeasance in a neighboring city and decided to check on Bell. Reporters — and everybody else — were shocked to discover the city manager of this small city of less than 36,000 people had a salary of almost $787,000, all but one of the city council members were receiving $100,000 annually for their part-time positions, the police chief was being paid $457,000, way more than the Los Angeles police chief.
Nobody had bothered to keep track of the city government in Bell, neither the media nor the public, apparently. As a result, municipal government had run amok with taxpayers’ money. That came to an end when the Los Angeles Times exposed the shenanigans of Bell’s city council and officials.
While we’re no Los Angeles Times, we here at The Bulletin strive to keep the public informed of what’s going on with our local government. That’s why you see so many stories about quorum court and city council meetings, why we regularly cover what school boards are doing, and it’s the reason you’ve seen so many stories during the last three years about the NABORS landfill.
By now, Frank Wallis probably knows more about landfill operations, leachate and laws governing landfills than he ever expected — or wanted — to know, but so do readers. He, along with photographer Kevin Pieper, have made repeated trips to the landfill, and Frank has learned the highway between Mountain Home and Harrison well covering the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste Management District board of directors, to say nothing of the hours spent on the telephone talking with various officials, experts and regular working folks. That was so our readers didn’t have to make those trips or calls yet could still be aware of what was happening with the landfill situation.
What the public has learned is what a boondoggle the NABORS landfill turned out to be, how much money went into the landfill (literally and figuratively), how four of the six counties making up the district left Baxter County and its taxpayers spinning in the wind, how loopholes in state law allowed them to do that and even closed, the landfill still is costing taxpayers’ money and posing an environmental threat.
That’s what Sunshine Week, and our job, is all about.
It’s also about your right as a citizen to know what your government is doing. It’s about your right to have access to public records, to attend public meetings and to expect local government to remain open and above board. The FOIA isn’t just for the media, but for everyone. You’re entitled to look at files at the county clerk’s office, to see police accident and incident reports, to review public budgets and expenditures. Your rights help keep government open and keep the sun shining on it, and nothing protects your rights as exercising them.
Even with the tremendous amount of media available today — the traditional media plus constantly updated news websites, 24/7 news channels and ever-growing social media — government still tries to keep some activities in the shadows. That’s why it’s important for those of us in the media to remain ever-watchful of what our government is doing, from the federal government all the way down to city councils and school boards. Shedding light on government helps it stay on the straight and narrow.
Frank Wallis, one of our reporters here at Sixth and Hickory, has a favorite story about how a city council in Bell, Calif., fell off the media’s radar and no one covered or reported on its meetings. After a few years, the Los Angeles Times was investigating possible malfeasance in a neighboring city and decided to check on Bell. Reporters — and everybody else — were shocked to discover the city manager of this small city of less than 36,000 people had a salary of almost $787,000, all but one of the city council members were receiving $100,000 annually for their part-time positions, the police chief was being paid $457,000, way more than the Los Angeles police chief.
Nobody had bothered to keep track of the city government in Bell, neither the media nor the public, apparently. As a result, municipal government had run amok with taxpayers’ money. That came to an end when the Los Angeles Times exposed the shenanigans of Bell’s city council and officials.
While we’re no Los Angeles Times, we here at The Bulletin strive to keep the public informed of what’s going on with our local government. That’s why you see so many stories about quorum court and city council meetings, why we regularly cover what school boards are doing, and it’s the reason you’ve seen so many stories during the last three years about the NABORS landfill.
By now, Frank Wallis probably knows more about landfill operations, leachate and laws governing landfills than he ever expected — or wanted — to know, but so do readers. He, along with photographer Kevin Pieper, have made repeated trips to the landfill, and Frank has learned the highway between Mountain Home and Harrison well covering the Ozark Mountain Solid Waste Management District board of directors, to say nothing of the hours spent on the telephone talking with various officials, experts and regular working folks. That was so our readers didn’t have to make those trips or calls yet could still be aware of what was happening with the landfill situation.
What the public has learned is what a boondoggle the NABORS landfill turned out to be, how much money went into the landfill (literally and figuratively), how four of the six counties making up the district left Baxter County and its taxpayers spinning in the wind, how loopholes in state law allowed them to do that and even closed, the landfill still is costing taxpayers’ money and posing an environmental threat.
That’s what Sunshine Week, and our job, is all about.
It’s also about your right as a citizen to know what your government is doing. It’s about your right to have access to public records, to attend public meetings and to expect local government to remain open and above board. The FOIA isn’t just for the media, but for everyone. You’re entitled to look at files at the county clerk’s office, to see police accident and incident reports, to review public budgets and expenditures. Your rights help keep government open and keep the sun shining on it, and nothing protects your rights as exercising them.
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment