There is a reason the general public has such a dim view of politicians. The Starkville Board of Aldermen showed why at their first meeting of 2015. If those actions of this board are any indication, this coming year promises to be a sorry example of good government or a spectacular example of short-sighted petty politics.
The agenda was fairly short. The meeting was going swimmingly. The consent agenda had been reinstated through the apparent approval and control of Roy Perkins, Alderman of Ward 6. The citizen comments were limited and the consent agenda items wiped out most of the issues to be handled. So far, so good.
The most controversial item, which was discussed minimally, was authorization for issuance of an additional $1.7 million in bonds for the proposed taxpayer’s white elephant also known as the Cadence building. Back in 2013 when the original bonds were authorized for the new city hall, Perkins spoke passionately about the injustice that was being done to the Starkville voters since the matter didn’t go up for a referendum of the people. He was adamantly supported in this view by Aldermen Vaughn and Carver.
Fast forward to 2015. That eloquently expressed ardor for allowing the people to vote on the commitment of debt for a public building has apparently cooled. That $1.7 million addition to the debt burden passed with a 6-1 vote. For some reason they chose not to reveal to the public that expenditure is no longer something the Starkville taxpayer should weigh in on. You can ask, but they won’t tell.
Perkins frequently states in the meetings that he takes pride in being consistent. It has long been a running joke about how many ways he can tie himself into a pretzel to get the desired result and yet still claim he is consistent in how he votes. That insistence on “consistency” puts me in mind of Emerson’s oft quoted expression. “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesman and philosophers and divines.” While I would choose to substitute the politicians for statesmen, you get the drift.
But I digress, back to the meeting. Once we got past the Cadence item, it was pretty standard fare for the viewing public. When it came time to have the executive session, all of us regulars left except for the press. Bless them. But for the tweeting of The Dispatch none of us would have known until the following morning what the Board had done, or better yet, undone.
The executive session portion of the meeting had a menu listing of potential litigation and personnel matters. Neither of these subjects were appropriate designators for what was considered. The end result was arguably a travesty of governance through obfuscation and duplicity. The discussion and ensuing votes taken in executive session did not merit being behind closed doors.
Shame on this board. I have to believe the city attorney was cringing during this rogue meeting. I wonder that he couldn’t have shut it down.
Some members of the board campaigned on transparency. This method of dealing with controversial subjects is cowardly and petty. I am absolutely opposed to this reversal of position on the Plus One insurance and personnel policy, but that pales in comparison to the concerns about their method of achieving it.
The decision to bring the park commission back into the city as an advisory board is absolutely the correct thing to do as it was five years ago when we tried it before. But, like the insurance matter, there was no reason to do so outside the public view.
It, like the Plus One insurance matter, deserves public scrutiny.
An elected leadership position is no place for cowardice. This choice of acting behind closed doors on matters that have already been heard and debated in public is a violation of the open meetings law. More importantly it is a violation of public trust.
There is very little that the Mayor of Starkville has control over given our form of government, but he has promised to veto and that will bring the matter back in front of the public where it should have been from the beginning.
No matter what your stance on an issue, if you are a public official, you owe it to your constituents to act in public. So put your big-girl panties on and come on in, the water is hot, but you set the temperature, so deal with it.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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