More transparency needed in city government
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Editor,
There is a whole lot more going on in Lake County than what is now being investigated by state agencies. The Polson mayor, city attorney and city manager have been stonewalling efforts to expose questionable dealings in city government.
City Commissioner Judy Preston and retired City Engineer Bob Fulton tried for several weeks to get issues on the City Commission agenda to address flawed planning policies and to question why the city attorney and a local developer were allowed to avoid paying thousands of dollars in fees required for their subdivision projects. Commissioner Preston tried to get the issue on the Commission agenda Dec. 19, but her efforts were thwarted.
Bob Fulton planned to present information during the citizen comment period. Word of mouth resulted in more people than usual attending the meeting to hear Fulton's comments. They anticipated there would be significant discussion.
To everyone's surprise, the mayor produced a $5 kitchen timer and announced comments would be timed. A three-minute rule was originally adopted in 2005 which resulted in complaints to the Human Rights Bureau that the rule was applied inconsistently and targeted certain individuals, and the Commission stopped applying the rule two years ago. The city mayor does not have the authority to make a decision to arbitrarily announce she will apply the three-minute rule. Such a decision must be put on a City Commission agenda and the meeting noticed to the public.
The manager-form of government has proven to be a danger to the democratic process, in that the manager seems able to overwhelm elected officials' capacity to represent citizen's interests. A police officer was on duty in an office near the Commission Chamber door during the meeting. Two police officers were posted in the Chamber doorway. Why?
Margie Hendricks
Polson
