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02/03/2006: "Sunshine In The Council Hearing Room"

As anyone who has sat in on County meetings knows, it can be difficult to know what is being discussed, because often the officials will have reports, letters, draft regulations and such that they are referring to in their discussion, but the public has no idea what they are looking at, and then no way of knowing later when -and if- a document is made public, how the content of the document evolved, and why certain choices were made as the officials worked on it. Over the years there have been numerous complains throughout the state about the hidden nature of the government, and in response laws have been enacted in an attempt to make information more easily available to the public.

San Juan County has been the leader in the State on a number of issues, but open government has not been one of them. One example is how differing departments treat a request for copies of documents. Asking for copies in one department results in the copies being made and handed over right on the spot. In another department one is required to fill out a multi-page form of dubious value, and then wait for days for a response, while in yet another department the form is one page long. And the same problem exists in requests for electronic files. Now there are signs of change coming, and the good news is, the sighs are coming from the County leaders.