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Embracing the shadows
12.05.2011
As Brunswick officials consider weighty matters such as building a new police station, redeveloping Brunswick Naval Air Station and welcoming passenger rail to town, they frequently encounter accusations that their deliberations lack transparency.
That's rarely the case. In fact, those required to sit through Town Council meetings that often approach three hours might argue that too much government "sausage making" takes place in public.
Likewise, the town's residents have a long history of expressing their sentiments demonstrably and in great detail to municipal officials when proposed — public or private — projects, expenditures or service cuts vex them.
In most instances, complaints that Brunswick town government lacks transparency derive more from dissatisfaction with the outcome of a vote than from the process employed to reach a decision. People unhappy with a Town Council or municipal staff decision tend to grouse that their voices weren't heard or that someone else received preferential treatment.
That they do so in a safe public forum, with their words broadcast by the local access television station, provides credence to the notion that Brunswick officials recognize the importance of conducting the town's business in the open.Then something like Monday night's private meeting with the Brunswick West Neighborhood Coalition occurs to raise new doubts.
Read the complete article here.