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TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT - RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS
Summary: Openness, Transparency, and Accountability
What could be more important than trust in our local government? The efforts to provide transparency is what builds trust.
We elected five new members of council in a hotly-disputed election November 2020. Voters paid attention to the issues. Now, we need to pay attention to the efforts made to correct some of the shortcomings of the past and opportunities for the future. And for that we need transparency.
- Decisions must be made at public meetings according to Florida’s Sunshine Law, no “government by email” which is occurring behind the scenes and out of the view of the general public. Start requiring public officials to use their public email addresses for all correspondence. For what reason would any elected official have to use a personal email address for Village business? This action creates suspicion.
- Start enforcing required public disclosures from elected and public officials about conflicts of interests. Specificity as to with whom they spoke and the topic of discussion is encouraged by most municipal legal advisors.
- Schedule the most controversial tabs at the beginning of council meetings to give more people a chance to participate.
- Public comment, handled properly, is a valuable form of communication that allows the council to learn what constituents think about the issues, but is especially difficult “virtually,” especially for the technically-challenged. Public comment submitted by email is "public" and should be read by the clerk for all to hear and acknowledged in the minutes -- the same as spoken public comments during meetings.
- Remember developers get far more than three minutes with the planning and building staff leading up to and during public hearings. The public, in their three minutes, deserves to be listened to carefully.
- All of the Planning Director interpretations of the Comprehensive Plan and the Land Development Regulations should be documented and public record. Inconsistencies in interpretation has and will lead to further conflicts that will cost the Village money.
- Proactive efforts to provide all documentation before issues are decided is critical. Let the public see important documents like the Feasibility Study for the pedestrian bridge.
- Provide easy and complete access to public records. This builds trust.
- Stop limiting and start publishing all appropriate documentation on the website. Figure out a way to comply with the ADA. Other communities have solved this problem. Removing documents from the website to fix ADA compliance issues does not fix the problem and hampers government in the sunshine.
- Committee meetings are public meetings. The public should be encouraged to attend, and able to see agendas and minutes well in advance of the meetings.
- Email alerts from the Village and social media are a great way to communicate. Push email notification of hearings with the details out to residents who sign up for them.
- Why are finance reports, after the budget is approved, not provided to the public? Oversight is critical for the integrity of a budget that includes $37 million in annual expenditures.
- Why isn’t there a policy manual on the Village website so we know that everyone is treated fairly and equally with regards to records requests?
- The cost of public record requests in 2020 was handled haphazardly. Install a functional system.
- Publish and update the 13-year-old Founders Park event policy.
- Why publish notices in the Key West Citizen? Publish the notices in the Free Press and the Keys Weekly and on the Village website where locals can see them.
Do you have an idea that you would like to submit to help with this issue? Please email us at info@Islamorada.org
