“A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity.” – Dalai Lama
This quote may be familiar to Chatham Voice readers – it was used to begin a column on open and transparent government by Chatham-Kent municipal executive management team member and legal counsel John Norton.
He wrote the column for this paper on Nov. 24, 2016 and his words are just as true today, but it leaves us questioning the follow through.
“In Ontario, a municipal government is a specially created corporation that is owned by, and for, the people that live within its geographic boundaries. It must be accountable to the public and so there are rules to ensure that municipal governments conduct business in public. A lack of openness and transparency can create an environment which breeds corruption and abuse.”
Those words by Norton sound good, but when a citizen, and in some cases members of council, have to file Freedom of Information requests to get access to information they should be entitled to in the first place, they lack sincerity.
Say what you want about John Cryderman, but he is a man who is determined to hold municipal council accountable for every penny of taxpayers’ money that is spent. When administration refuses to give access to costs like the full amount spent on overseas trips, without charging hundreds of dollars and wasting months of time, it makes people wonder why.
Why isn’t that information readily available when you can break out Mayor Randy Hope’s travel costs to the penny? Why does it take two staff members 22 hours to gather that info? Why is there hardly any information online regarding the 2018 budget details except one-page overviews that tell us nothing?
Why? That question leads to people thinking exactly what Norton said would happen – is there something to hide?
Lord knows municipal clerk Judy Smith deserves a medal for dealing with the number of requests for information that come her way, but if administration were more open with information and actually posted that information in an accessible format online, they could cut the number of requests in half.
Don’t just talk about being accessible and open – actually do it and give citizens a reason to have faith in their municipal government.
