From the Mount Airy News (3/27/10): The harboring of secrets can be extremely troublesome, especially when someone is being kept in the dark who shouldn’t — namely the public.
Of course, it’s best that some secrets stay confidential, such as those involving military operations, affairs of the heart and other private matters whose disclosure could prove hurtful. That’s unless the love affair involves an extraterrestrial or the ghost of Elvis Presley — in which case it could prove newsworthy.
I also don’t mind people keeping secrets about their weights or ages — again, we’re in the category of personal or private behavior.
However, a big fat line must be drawn in the sand when those in government appear to be keeping secrets from the taxpayers. And recent events make me suspect that this is going on, at least to some extent, with the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners.
In the first three months of 2010, the board has adjourned into closed sessions at the end of five of the six regular meetings which have been held during that period. In some cases, those sessions have been quite lengthy in comparison to the portions of the meetings which are open to the public — such as one that ran only about 20 minutes on March 4.
My skeptical nature makes me suspect “good stuff” that would be of interest to local citizens is being discussed in private and therefore withheld.
First of all, I think our city board needs reminding that the N.C. Open Meetings Law does not state that an elected body MUST go behind closed doors to discuss certain privileged matters. It only says that they MAY do so for reasons that relate to personnel, land acquisition, sensitive negotiations with a new industry and several others.
I don’t have a problem with the law permitting closed sessions for such issues, because it would be detrimental to the taxpayers if, for instance, word got out that the municipality was seeking to buy land for some purpose and this caused its price to skyrocket.
The problem comes when our city board, or any elected body, uses closed sessions simply as an excuse to avoid any controversy that could result from airing matters in public. Here lately, it seems that anything the board CAN possibly discuss in private WILL be discussed in private. From the taxpayers’ standpoint, it would be much more comforting to see these officials look for every reason to avoid a closed session rather than every excuse to hold one.
I have learned from a source that the last closed session of the city board on March 18 included some issues that weren’t openly cited beforehand as reasons for the group engaging in the private discussions. Since the public is being excluded, we have no way of knowing what Mount Airy officials are doing back there. For all we or anyone else knows, they could be playing Texas Hold ’Em or deciding whether to declare war on Norway.
And just as we can’t depend on Congress not to vote itself a pay increase, how can we depend on members of an elected body to police themselves when no one else is looking?
I would like to see the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners cease holding closed sessions unless they are positively, absolutely necessary.
Or, it might try an approach that has succeeded in other communities, in which members of the press are allowed to attend these private discussions with the understanding they will not report on any matters related to personnel or similar sensitive issues.
I once heard a man attack the holding of closed-door sessions by referencing the study habits of his daughter. He described her as a beautiful girl who excelled in class, participated in extracurricular and volunteer activities and was responsible in every way. And, like other teen-agers, she also enjoyed a social life that included dates with her boyfriend and studying together often.
A degree of worry — albeit a small one, but a degree of worry nonetheless — would emerge on occasions the two did their studying upstairs in the daughter’s bedroom. It was a natural location for this activity since that room contained her computer, desk and other items needed for studying. And while the father insisted he had complete trust in his daughter, as well as her boyfriend, he simply felt better when that door to her room was wide open, dadgummit!
Certain Mount Airy officials have told me in the past week or so that they are committed to open government.
My question is, how much openness can there really be when the door has been closed so often?
by Tom Joyce, Mount Airy News Staff Writer