Susan Hall Hardy says that in most places industrial authority executives
don’t interact with their communities.
Well, paraphrasing what Yakov Smirnoff used to say,
in Lowndes County, community interact with officials!
Here is
her comment from 15 March 2011 on this blog:
Not to be rude, although honesty is very often perceived that way
these days, but, the industrial authority executives rarely thank their
communities. In the six states I’m most familiar with, these fellows
see themselves as beholden only to their employers. After all, they work
with their directors, elected officials, a few bankers and city/county
department heads. Rarely do they come in direct contact with the average
voter, employee or homeowner, although all those people often pay a large
part of their salaries and office operating expenses. Despite the public
funding, these groups are usually tight lipped about how they do business
and rarely provide the public with records or audits. We’ve all put up
with that manner of doing business for so long we now see it as just
that — the way you do business. We’d never accept that from a nonprofit
organization, a charity group or most elected officials. Shame on us all.
Susan, you’re helping by reading, and you’re helping more by posting.
Many local officials have noticed LAKE and this blog because
they know people read it.
Anyone who wants to help still more,
you, too, can go to a meeting.
The Industrial Authority is a good one to attend,
but I hear the Tree Commission isn’t trying as hard to enforce things,
and does anybody know anything the Hospital Authority does?
The Airport Authority?
Continue reading →
Recently, there has been more interest and observation of some
parts of local government by active citizens,
on topics ranging from
the
animal shelter
to
biomass
to
education
to
farmers markets
to
fast food vs. neighborhoods
to
private prisons
to
the Quitman 10
to
solar power
to
T-SPLOST,
all in aid of
transparency.
Engaging elected and
appointed officials in
dialog about the concerns and best interests
of the community
has been challenging.
Yet we can see the sun a little clearer through the smoke.
