When will city officials see? |
| August 16, 2013 |
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I have been trying since August 6 to find a nice
way to voice sentiments regarding the City of
Bonners Ferry administration that are not just mine but a whole
group of citizens' of Bonners Ferry and the
surrounding area. When we first started attending city council meetings, one could just ask for council packets, and they would be emailed in PDF format. Now you have to go onto the city's website to get this information. Sometimes they aren't even posted on the website until the afternoon of the meetings. But the city says they appreciate "an involved constituency." Traffic safety meetings, as an example, were noted at the bottom of agenda notices. The pattern here is that it is getting harder and harder to stay informed of what is going on in our city. Our city administration works for us. If not for taxpayers and rate payers, no one at city hall would get a paycheck. Then, when I complained, I was told that I was "unappreciative." Granted, by state code, the city doesn't have to notify citizens of special meetings, but when it was done in the past and it has stopped, it gives the citizens the perception that there is something to hide. Yes, I am unappreciative of the way we, who attend city council meetings, are made to feel like our presence is not appreciated. This all takes me back to a quote by Colin Powell that city administrator Stephen Boorman put in the city council packet one time, "You don't know what you can get away with until you try it." When are city officials going to realize that we, the people, see through all this "less information?" |
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Ruth Sutton Bonners Ferry |