Thursday, October 24, 2013

Smoke & Mirrors in Windcrest

 Have you noticed how Transparency works in Windcrest?  The City Council meetings are recorded and available for live streaming, however, if you missed the live meeting, actually viewing the official video may require an Open Records request.  The process of posting council meeting videos to the city web page appears to vary depending on the content of the video.

  Posting a video for public viewing is a straight forward process requiring a few minutes at the computer to accomplish.  Some council meeting videos have been posted as early as the following morning so you know it's possible. It appears that if the content of the meeting has anything controversial the video does not get posted for days and days.  Why is that?  Maybe because Mayor Alan E. Baxter and councilman John Gretz are running for re election.   Controlling what is released and when reminds me of other forms of government, not an open and transparent government.  Running for office saying "we are Open and Transparent" while delaying the release of public information, amounts to nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
 
  Windcrest has ordinances such as the number of animals allowed per household, speed limits, signs, and weeds etc.   Windcrest should enact an ordinance dictating council meeting videos be posted to the city web page within 48 hours.  This idea would require Transparency and not allow politicians and administrators to use the current smoke and mirror tactics.

   Sadly, the faster process is to submit an Open Records request for the video.  Even that process is allowed 10 working days, but at least you will receive the video.

No comments:

Post a Comment