Monday, October 18, 2010

Dumont's Transparency - Lip Service?

Back in July, I emailed the Mayor and copied the full Council on a suggestion that, I thought, may benefit the mayor's self-proclaimed mission bringing transparency to borough hall.

This was not just a one-line suggestion that would have required much of the Ordinance and Resolution Committee's time or effort to complete.   With permission, a template crafted by the Open Government Task Force was used to minimize the effort and speed the adoption, rejection or the modification of the proposed resolution language:

Letter to Mayor and Council

Sample: Dumont Resolution To Enter Closed Session

I received no response from either mayor or any council member.

I then asked councilman Carrick at the August 17 Council meeting whether he received the e-mail.  He claimed he never received it and asked me to resend the message.  I did so and I have heard nothing since.

I am not sure why either the Mayor or any O&R committee member seems silent as to the suggestion's disposition.  Even if they were to respond "The Ordinance and Resolution Committee met and discussed your suggestion and has determined the Closed Meeting resolution will remain unchanged at this time" I would have respected the response even though it was not what I desired. Is the lack of response to a written inquiry considered professional?

Unfortunately this is one of many suggestions that remain unanswered, status unknown, perhaps pitched into the black hole of inconvenient questions and suggestions.

From a local blogger in Bergen County: "...it is perhaps time to start listening to constituents and begin to abandon the 'we know better than you mantra' before a desperate state treasury that begins to search for monies that have been misappropriated ,ill spent ,wasted ,ill advised and other wise foolishly squandered."