McNaboe Challange: Identify the Grant

Council Member Darcy McNaboe discounted Council Member Sandoval's suggestion that funds for an election could be spent on other things for example improved public access to city records and streaming the City Council Meetings on the Internet. At that point in the discussion she was still supporting an election over an appointment. She offered that there are grants out there that will encourage and pay for the improvement in government transparency. She later changed her position on the appoint or elect issue, seeing perhaps that the citizens would elect Sylvia Robles, she opted for appointment where she could make sure the Robles is not appointed.

Well, now here is her challenge. Where's the Grant. I hope within the next few meetings she includes in her Council Report, the Name of the Organization and the Grant and the Application deadlines for funds to specifically open the government records and provide a reply or play on demand the city council meetings. Note, the pdf files as made available now are not search able and this obscures information.

The beginning of this blog was in part due to the difficulty in getting information from the city, and having a transparent government. We must recognise that some changes have taken place. However, there is still room for improvement.

Crime & Arrests Reporting: We should be able to look at the city web page to know there was a Forced Entry of a Home,... that is why the Helicopter was flying over head and saying to a suspect "Come out from Hiding", last week. Sure it is a small town, but part of living in a small town is that if your arrested, everyone knows. This knowledge has an impact on behavior.

City Council Meetings are difficult to review, and although the availability of the City Council Agenda & Packets and the following Minutes are much improved there are side comments that are not included in the Minutes that at a later date become important to the citizen's understanding of an issue. These visual records should be on the Internet.

Election Documents and Financial Reporting should be on the Internet.

More detail on the payments made and received by the city should be available on line. The use of the city Credit Card, and Payroll Accounts are not reviewed by the public in any real detail.

This is only the start. IT is OUR GOVERNMENT, we should know where every dime of money goes, and for what. We can know that without knowing an individuals Social Security Number, or the Color of their Eyes. However, citizens should be able to see how every last cent is spent by their government. We count our pennies at home, it is time we require the same from our government.