THE CO-OPERATION OF COUNCIL - TO KEEP US UP TO SPEED - IS SENSIBLE TO ALL STAKE-HOLDERS

It is a problem with most governments these days. The desire to keep information on a "need-to-know" basis. And even then, it is a sanitized version of what is actually going on. To think that everything is decided around the council table is nonsense, and for anyone who has covered local government, the key direction of council isn't confined to what is negotiated or discussed at town hall. Ideas that blossom in coffee shop chats, and social event inter-action, can play a huge role in what comes forth for committee or council consideration. Democracy is well served this way, and some of the best ideas in history, didn't come out during routine meetings but arrived rather unceremoniously with a daydream, a vision, speculation, investigation and imagination about the things that can be implemented to meet an objective.

I could sit, as a reporter, all the live long day at a council meeting, or slurp coffee with a committee in discussion, but inevitably I knew by experience, the vast amount of work had been hammered out behind the scenes, and of this, I was not a part. There's nothing wrong with this, of course, and as far as transparency goes, generally it isn't worth too much ink on the news pages. There are however, issues and important decisions, that do arrive for council decision, that make citizens ponder where these opinions and directives came from in the first place.

The point is, transparency is never going to happen totally, and no matter how much we wish we knew more about how ideas and mandates were generated, and the sources related, we must relent that somethings will never be known regardless. What we are looking for is something and someone to take responsibility for hatching ideas, and directing traffic behind the scenes. Who is controlling the town, really? And what are the political interests of the few, who seem to have a vision for our town……and are acting upon it? When we ask for transparency, we know full well, we will never get the complete picture, and will have to settle for what we are able to gouge loose of the protective screen that shields governments, rightly or wrongly depending on the issues.

We just have to hope our local representatives understand the true positives of being forthright and sensible about what they are protecting, of inside information, and what we all need to know before we head any further out to sea with a leaky vessel.